ISLAMABAD: A six-day special polio vaccination campaign has started in frontier regions of Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and South Waziristan Agency.
The FATA Secretariat’s Emergency Operation Centre said that 129,539 children below the age of five years will be administered polio drops during the campaign. As many as 111 mobile, 29 fixed and 15 transit teams along with 375 community health workers will take part in the immunisation campaign.
The secretariat also said that the decision of launching a polio vaccination drive in these areas was taken after some polio cases in DI Khan emerged, while traces of poliovirus were also found in water samples taken from Dera Ghazi Khan.
Twelve polio cases have been reported in Pakistan this year. However, no case has been reported from the FATA region. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still categorised as endemic viral infection.
Vaccination efforts in both the countries are often hampered due to threats from militants therefore security for the polio teams will be provided by Army personnel.
