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PESHAWAR: Health authorities are launching a four-day vaccination campaign in areas where polio cases have recently been recorded, with a focus on families defying vaccination to protect their children from disability.
The training will start on Monday, when some 614,590 children will be vaccinated in Torghar and Shangla, in the surrounding districts of Hazara and Malakand. The vaccinators will also cover missed children on the fourth day of the campaign, according to a press release.
The campaign will be conducted under the supervision of commissioners, deputy commissioners and district health officials, with the support of the police and law enforcement personnel.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is in the spotlight as several cases of poliomyelitis have been reported in the Bannu Division. The number of polio cases soared to 33 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 41 in the country in 2019, so far. The main reasons for the increase in the number of cases of poliomyelitis are children at zero dose and cases of refusal of vaccination.
614,590 children vaccinated in Torghar and Shangla districts
The first case-response campaign was successfully conducted in June, when, in order to put an end to this epidemic, three case-response campaigns were decided, including one to be carried out in the coming days.
Kamran Ahmed Afridi, coordinator of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Emergency Operations Center, said that the successful case-response campaign in June 2019 had stopped polio cases, as no cases had been reported. reported with a date after the completion of the campaign.
"This case-response campaign is also crucial in stopping the polio outbreak and transmission, as well as saving children from paralysis in the coming days," he said.
Mr. Afridi said that he had witnessed that parents, believing in propaganda and lying against vaccination, had refused the anti-polio drugs or had left their children without a dose.
"Oral polio vaccines are the safest and most effective. It's the way to protect our children from polio and eradicate poliovirus, "he added.
He advised teams to touch and vaccinate all children during the campaign, as wild poliovirus was still circulating in the area and could attack any unimmunized child.
Age-appropriate immunization maximizes the benefits of immunization if parents meet the essential immunization schedule proposed in all neighboring health centers against 10 vaccine-preventable diseases, including tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis and measles.
Posted in Dawn, on July 15, 2019
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