ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities on Monday launched a nationwide anti-polio marketing campaign whilst coronavirus infections surge.
About 150,000 well being staff are collaborating within the five-day, anti-polio drive to inoculate 22.4 million kids underneath age 5, based on a press release issued by Shahzad Beg, the coordinator for polio program. The earlier marketing campaign happened weeks in the past when Pakistan witnessed decline in COVID-19 circumstances.
Authorities hope the newest marketing campaign will assist making Pakistan a polio-free nation.
Final yr, Pakistan reported just one polio case from the nation’s southwestern Baluchistan province. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the one international locations on this planet the place polio stays endemic and the illness may cause partial paralysis in kids.
Pakistan for 25 years has been finishing up common inoculation campaigns by which well being staff go door-to-door to offer the polio drops to kids. A lot of the staff are ladies, as they'll get higher entry to moms and kids.
Pakistani authorities have stepped up safety for polio groups.
Lately, Pakistani militants have focused polio groups and police escorting them, claiming falsely that the anti-polio drive is a part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize kids or acquire intelligence. These assaults elevated after it was revealed that a faux hepatitis vaccination marketing campaign was used as a ruse by the CIA within the hunt for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos in 2011 in Pakistan.
Monday’s newest anti-polio push comes amid a gentle improve in circumstances of coronavirus.
Prior to now 24 hours, Pakistan registered greater than 7,000 COVID-19 circumstances, one of many highest variety of each day infections since June 2020.