Islamabad— Pakistan started its first statewide anti-polio campaign of the year to immunize more than 44 million children under five. The three-day campaign began on Monday in more than 150 areas in the only two nations where the devastating neurological illness is still widespread, along with Afghanistan. On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif started the campaign in Islamabad and gave children polio drops.
Sharif stated during the occasion, “I have the faith that all the province governments together with the federal government would continue partnering to eradicate the illness forever. Sharif said the WHO and others are concerned about a viral recurrence. “Unfortunately, Pakistan was among the few nations where polio cases had resurfaced,” the prime minister’s office stated. “During Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s regime, these incidents were entirely eradicated,” it claimed. Pakistan has only one new polio case in 2021, bolstering expectations of success. In 2022, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had 20 cases. North Waziristan has 17 instances and Lakki Marwat had three. Pakistan and Afghanistan still have WPV-1. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative requires three years of polio-free status. The National Emergency Operations Centre informed reporters that this is the first statewide effort since May 2018. The floods prevented us from starting a countrywide campaign in August last year. “Now we are hoping to use more than 350,000 health professionals to administer polio drops and vitamin-A supplement,” he stated anonymously. Last year’s Pakistan floods devastated 33 million people and killed over 1,700. Waterborne infections from stagnant floodwaters have killed many, including children. Religious and military organizations have opposed Pakistan’s polio vaccination program, calling it a “Western scheme” to sterilize youngsters. Officials deny that the vaccinations include pig fat, making them non-halal.
Over the previous decade, more than 100 polio vaccine campaign workers have died and many more been injured. Four policemen were injured in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on January 5 during a provincial anti-polio drive. After the 2011 US military assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistani polio vaccination resistance increased. The CIA faked a polio vaccination program to find bin Laden.