World Health Organization (WHO) reached over 2.9 million children for vaccination against measles in its campaign in eight districts of Sindh. According to WHO, children from the ages of nine months to 10 years were vaccinated during the campaign, which started as an emergency response to the outbreak of the disease in Sindh. WHO Pakistan Country Representative Dr Guido Sabatinelli said a total of 1,300,000 vaccine doses were dispatched by the authorities. He added that WHO is recommending adequate steps, both on an emergency and a long-term basis to the provincial governments to ensure that routine immunisation coverage is made accessible to every child. He said on average, a single Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) vaccination centre in a Union Council catered to a population of 20,000 to 30,000. He said the government of Pakistan’s EPI, which is technically supported by WHO and UNICEF, aims at protecting newborn children by immunising them against childhood Tuberculosis, Poliomyelitis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Hepatitis B, Meningitis, Haemophilus Influenza and Measles.
