LAHORE – A three-day national immunisation campaign against polio will start today in Punjab. The Health Department has constituted more than 38 thousands vaccination teams that will administer polio vaccine drops to children door to door. Polio drops will also be given at the cities’ exit points, railway stations, airports and highways’ toll plazas to the children traveling. Punjab Health Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad said the government was taking all necessary steps for complete eradication of polio virus and health officers had been assigned special tasks for making the polio campaign a success.
He said a strict monitoring system had been evolved and international institutions such as WHO and UNICEF were also monitoring the campaign. He said the current anti-polio campaign was a challenge and district health officers had been directed to ensure 100% coverage in respective districts. He said zero tolerance policy would be adopted in this regard and Health department would distribute handbills on preventive measures and other information regarding dengue fever through mobile vaccination teams in Lahore.
He said that the Health Department had extended polio drops facility in all hospitals, health centers and dispensaries. He added that Motorway Police and other departmental services had been acquired for polio drops administration to the children on the motorway and highways. The Health Department had provided 17,000,000 polio dozes for 16.5 million children up to five years of age whereas a special cold chain and ice boxes have been provided for vaccine storage to maintain quality and effectiveness of vaccine, the secretary concluded.
