KARACHI: Around 5.5 million children of under-five years of age from across Sindh will be vaccinated against polio virus in Sindh during a campaign, starting from Monday.
The campaign will continue for a week in all six districts of Karachi, home to around 2.4 million children up to age of five years, however, it will end on June 20 in the remaining districts of Sindh.
Coordinator for Emergency Operation (EOC) for Polio Eradication Umar Farooq Bullo has urged the parents and caretakers to cooperate with the vaccinators reaching their doorsteps, as he said the exercise was extremely important.
The recently collected samples of poliovirus from local environment demanded fool-proof safety of vulnerable children against the crippling disease, he emphasised in a statement.
Reminding that no under-five child is safe against polio due to the presence of the virus in the environment, Bullo mentioned that seven confirmed cases of polio had been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and three each from Punjab and Sindh respectively during the current year.
Referring to the fact that two of the three cases in Sindh were reported from Karachi only, he said constant mobility of the people to and from the port city had made it necessary to extend the duration of the campaign there.
The EOC coordinator also urged the parents and community leaders along with other influential sections to realise their responsibility towards unassuming kids and help strengthen their immunity against polio through efficient vaccination.
“Equal responsibility lies upon each stakeholder to carry the under-five child to fixed EPI centre for vaccination if may have missed, due to any reason, teams of vaccinators reaching their homes during door-to-door exercise,” he added.