Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Friday that since July 2020 no new polio case has emerged due to regular vaccination campaigns in the province.
“Zero polio cases across the province is good news for the future of the children of Pakistan,” he said.
His comments came as he launched a week-long anti-polio drive by administering polio drops to children at CM House.
Briefing the CM, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said that the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for polio has launched a province-wide polio campaign from February 28 to March 6, as part of the national immunisation days, to give oral polio drops to over almost 10 million children under 5-years of age across the province.
The campaign is conducted in all 30 districts of the province. She said that out of the targeted 9 million children, more than two million live in Karachi. A total of 70,000 polio workers with more than 10,000 supervisors will take part in this campaign, the CM was told.
The chief minister said: “Thanks to regular campaigns our province has not reported a single case of polio since July 2020 and environment samples have also been found negative across the province since July 2021 which is great news for the future of the children of Pakistan.
“If we continue with the same momentum, we will further see significant results, but we must not get complacent and continue the hard work,” he said and added “we understand that communities in the super high risk Union Councils for polio need other services and we are addressing this through new initiatives.”
Polio workers praised
Murad Ali Shah said while we deal with the pandemic, we must also deal with immunisation to prevent childhood diseases, the benefits of vaccination are clear as frequent campaigns have significantly reduced the burden of polio in the country.
“I salute my polio workers who have worked in difficult conditions and ensured that children are safe from polio. It is because of their efforts that today there is no polio case in Sindh,” he said and added now we have to make sure it does not return,” he said.
The CM said that children could be saved from childhood diseases like polio through vaccination and he sought the media’s help to raise awareness for the purpose.
Murad Shah said that the constant efforts in the polio programme have resulted in around 50 per cent reduction in refusals and missed children but ”we must bring them down further, especially in Karachi and must raise awareness around the benefits of vaccination.”
“Polio vaccine is the safest and most effective way to save your children from the disease, please cooperate with the teams when they come to your doorstep. Remember polio has no cure but can be easily prevented through vaccination and we are sending workers to your doorsteps so please cooperate with them and help save the future of Pakistan and eradicate polio.”
