ISLAMABAD, Nov 07 (DNA):More than 23.4 million children have been vaccinated against polio during the first five days of the ongoing sub-national immunisation campaign being conducted in 97 selected districts across the country, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said on Saturday.
The sixth day of the campaign is underway, with vaccination activities scheduled to continue uninterrupted until November 8.
Approximately 24 million children under five years of age are being targeted during the nationwide drive, involving more than 200,000 frontline polio workers.
According to the NEOC, the campaign is being conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of coordinated regional efforts to prevent the spread of polio virus and protect children against the crippling disease.
Provincial vaccination figures showed that more than 9.025 million children had received polio drops in 13 selected districts of Punjab, while over 6.856 million children were vaccinated in 20 selected districts of Sindh.
Similarly, more than 4.624 million children were vaccinated in 27 selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), while 2.169 million children received polio drops in 31 selected districts of Balochistan.
In Islamabad, more than 450,000 children were vaccinated, while over 161,000 children received polio drops in three selected districts of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), approximately 192,000 children were vaccinated in two selected districts during the first five days of the campaign.
The NEOC warned that the threat of polio virus persisted across the country, stressing that polio was an incurable disease and vaccination remained the only effective way to prevent it.
It urged parents and caregivers to extend full cooperation to vaccination teams and ensure that all children below five years of age received polio drops during the ongoing campaign.
Parents were also advised to ensure timely completion of their children’s routine immunisation schedules to protect them against other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The NEOC emphasized that sustained vaccination efforts, community participation and public cooperation were essential to achieving a polio-free Pakistan.
