Tag: polio vaccine

  • Anti-polio campaign to start in Sindh from October 24

    Anti-polio campaign to start in Sindh from October 24

    Anti-polio campaign in Sindh will be carried out from October 24 to 30, it has been announced. Around 6.5 million children would be administered the polio vaccination.
    The anti-polio drive will be carried out with special focus on flood-affected areas.

    Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput chaired a meeting on the upcoming anti-polio campaign on Friday.
    The meeting was informed that despite widespread campaigns, environmental samples of polio genetic clusters have been discovered.

    Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said that the biggest challenge at the moment, in the wake of floods, is to reach every single child and vaccinate against polio.

    She continued by saying that a thorough plan is required to address both the places hit by the storm and those where water is still standing. Vaccinators might be sent there on boats to administer the drops to children.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • Lahore declared Pakistan’s first ‘polio-free city’

    Lahore declared Pakistan’s first ‘polio-free city’

    Lahore has become the first polio-free city in the country.

    According to details, the Lahore deputy commissioner said that the fifth environmental sample taken from the city for the poliovirus tested negative. Earlier four environmental samples for the virus had tested negative, he added.

    He credited the achievement to the doctors, polio workers, and the parents for making the city polio-free.

    Earlier on April 3, around 3.5 million children got vaccinated during the first four days of the nationwide polio campaign in the country.

    Read more – Here’s where you can find COVID-19 vaccine in Karachi, Lahore

    A five-day polio vaccination campaign commenced across the country on March 29 to vaccinate over 40.1 million children under the age of five.

    As many as 290,000 polio workers were administering anti-polio drops across the country while following COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs). Security forces were providing foolproof security to the teams to avoid any unpleasant situation.

  • VIDEO: Indian official drinks hand sanitizer instead of water

    VIDEO: Indian official drinks hand sanitizer instead of water

    An Indian official accidentally drank hand sanitizer mistaking it for a bottle of water at a public meeting.

    According to details, Ramesh Pawar was at a budget committee hearing in Mumbai on Wednesday when he sat down and took a sip from a bottle placed at the table.

    He took a sip but a person around him hurried to warn him that it was hand sanitiser. The official instantly noticed his mistake and spat out the sanitiser while others at the meeting rushed to help him and gave him a bottle of water.

    In another such incident, at least 12 children were hospitalized after they were given hand sanitiser drops instead of oral polio vaccine drops in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

  • Farhan Saeed lauds polio workers

    Farhan Saeed lauds polio workers

    Farhan Saeed has lauded polio workers for their dedication and hard work.

    Sharing a video of female polio workers walking in blankets of snow to deliver the vaccine to the children of Azad Kashmir, Saeed said: “All heroes don’t wear capes, some wear yellow vest[s].”

    Agreeing with the Suno Chanda star, his followers couldn’t stop praising the efforts of these women.

    Read more – Farhan Saeed, Urwa Hocane lash out at opposition for holding jalsas amid a pandemic

    Pakistan’s first polio vaccination campaign for 2021 started on Monday, January 11. The national polio immunization drive will last for five days and aims to vaccinate over 40 million children under the age of five across Pakistan.

  • 13 new polio cases reported in a single day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

    13 new polio cases reported in a single day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

    In a shocking development, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported 13 new cases of type 2 polio cases. This is the highest number of cases to be reported in the province in one day.

    According to the provincial health department, seven of the cases were reported from Khyber tribal district, while one case each was reported from Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Mardan, Nowshera, Bajaur and Lower Dir.

    WATCH: The Current tours Pakistan’s Polio Lab

    A senior public health specialist told a leading newspaper on condition of anonymity, that several Pakistani health specialists had raised the issues over the polio programme, but “they are either sidelined or kicked out of the programme,” also adding that the reason why the virus spreading so fast is that not every child is being reached in infected areas and the government is missing a lot of children that need to be vaccinated.

    “Pakistan has this year reported 25 cVDP2 (type 2) cases, in which Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone had a share of 24,” the report said. Type 2 polio does not cause paralysis but is debilitating. The type 2 virus was eliminated in the country in 2016 and reemerged last year.

    In 2019, Pakistan had reported 22 cases of type two polio cases, including 16 from KP. These were apart from type one polio cases in 2020, which are 29 in the country and 15 in KP.

    “It is a money-driven programme and huge salaries and incentives are being taken by the consultants at the top level. Unfortunately, some people in the programme are very influential and answerable to none and they set their agenda ignoring local needs and requirements,” he maintained, according to The News.

    Another senior official said that after working with the polio programme for many years, he realises that the elimination of polio is not a priority.