Anti-polio campaign worker killed in Baluchistan – Pakistan

CHAMAN: An employee of the polio vaccination campaign was shot dead and another injured Thursday in Chaman, Baluchistan.

Deputy Commissioner Syed Sami Agha told the press that unidentified suspects had opened fire on the vaccination team of Sultan Zai, a town near the border with Afghanistan. The suspects managed to escape after the shooting.

He added that both victims had been transferred to the district headquarters hospital.

The vaccination campaign in the region was suspended and security forces cordoned off the site of the attack and launched a search operation for the attackers. More than 2.5 million children in Baluchistan were to receive the polio vaccine during the campaign.

No less than 10,356 teams were deployed to vaccinate the children. In addition to the 8,829 mobile teams, 951 fixed points and 576 transit points were also set up throughout Balochistan to ensure that all children receive anti-polio drops.

Several polio activists in Baluchistan and other parts of the country have been murdered, while fearful parents routinely refuse to vaccinate their children during door-to-door campaigns. On April 8, an officer of the polio board badociated with the World Health Organization was shot dead in the Ghazi Baig district of Haleemzai Tehsil in the Mohmand tribal district.

The latest vaccination team attack comes a few days after the polio outbreak spread to Peshawar and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while some 75 students from a school in the Badhber area of ​​Peshawar had been admitted to a hospital with vaccinated.

As a result of the panic, a police officer deployed in a basic health unit in Bannu to ensure the safety of immunization officers during a province-wide campaign was shot dead by unknown badailants then that he was going to work on April 23rd.

Last year, 12 cases of wild poliovirus were reported in the country – five from Bajaur, three from Dukki and one from Charsadda, Lakki Marwat, Khyber and Gadap. The data indicates a 97% decrease in the annual number of polio cases from the high of 306 reported in 2014.