PESHAWAR: The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) Islamabad on Saturday notified two more polio cases that emerged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Bajaur tribal district.
According to the NEOC, “The National Institute of Health (NIH) has isolated wild poliovirus from the stool sample of a three-year-old boy Abdur Rehman and seven-year-old girl Nabila and were paralysed on December 29, 2018, and December 31, 2018, respectively.”
Moreover, the stool sample was collected to inspect the presence of poliovirus on January 8, 2019, and January 7, 2019.
It was further reported that the laboratory isolated the virus from stools and confirmed both to be the polio cases which were notified by NEOC on January 19, 2019.
As of now, both the children received more than seven doses of oral polio vaccine and zero doses of essential/routine vaccination.
KP EOC Coordinator Capt (r) Kamran Ahmed Afridi said that “every confirmed polio case from Bajaur is proof in itself that gap exists and there is a need for improving the quality of the campaign. Teams have already been notified who are expected to propose the strategy to recover”.
The coordinator further directed the provincial team to ensure access to vaccination for every child in the province, especially in Bajaur during the upcoming anti-polio campaign. He further added that negligence of any sort from any team member will be dealt with strictly.
A three-day anti-polio campaign is set to begin in KP on January 21 through January 23. It will be followed by a catch-up of missed children and surveillance, under the supervision and security provided by deputy commissioners, district health officers and security forces.
Provincial Health Department spokesperson said that “about 6.7 million children up to five years of age will be vaccinated during the campaign”.
More than 31,000 teams have been formed to visit door-to-door to administer anti-polio drops to children. A total of 4,120 teams comprising 3,803 mobile teams, 227 fixed and 90 transit mobile teams will conduct the campaign and try to reach a total of 8,84,771 children below the age of five years.
More than 30,000 personnel of law enforcing agencies have been deputed for security of polio teams, the spokesman added.
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