ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (NNN-APP) – A polio vaccination campaign is set to kick off from today, in 39 districts of Pakistan, to vaccinate more than six million children under the age of five, the Pakistani Health Ministry said.
The five-day polio drive has been primarily initiated, after sewage samples in the country’s eastern Lahore city, tested positive for wild poliovirus last month, the ministry said in a statement, yesterday.
The campaign would begin in full across nine districts, including the seven endemic districts in the southern part of north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and two districts of eastern Punjab province, the statement said.
Partial campaigns would be conducted in the remaining 30 districts, during which the children will be vaccinated, it added.
The first positive sample of 2023 was detected on Jan 19, and was found genetically linked to the poliovirus detected in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, in Nov, 2022, the ministry said, adding, this was the first evidence of cross-border virus transmission, in more than a year.
The second positive sample was reported on Jan 27, which was genetically linked to a virus circulating in southern KP, according to the ministry.– NNN-APP
