The subnational polio vaccination campaign concluded on Sunday in 39 districts of Pakistan, with over six million children under five years of age being vaccinated. After sewage samples in Lahore tested positive for wild poliovirus in January 2023, the campaign was launched.
As part of the vaccination drive, nine districts were covered, including Bannu, DI Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, Upper South Waziristan, and Lower South Waziristan in southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as Lahore and Faisalabad in Punjab.
On January 19, the national polio lab of the National Institutes of Health declared the first sample of the virus to be positive for 2023. The poliovirus was genetically linked to one that was discovered in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in November 2022, marking the first instance of cross-border transmission in more than a year. A virus present in South K-P was genetically connected to the second positive sample.
Abdul Qadir Patel, Minister of National Health Services, emphasized the significance of immunizing children in every campaign to shield them from the virus that causes disabilities and stop it from spreading to communities.
He pointed out that the virus’s presence in sewage samples was evidence that it was spreading nationwide and travelling with people. He added that the oral polio vaccine could only provide lifetime immunity to the virus through repeated doses.
The National Emergency Operations Centre’s coordinator, Dr. Shahzad Baig, emphasized the value of repeated vaccinations during the poliovirus’s final stages of eradication. He pointed out that the programme continued to be successful in preventing circulation in the districts of detection and limiting it to the endemic districts of southern K-P despite 37 environmental samples testing positive for the wild poliovirus in 13 districts last year.
The Lahore district was already covered during the national campaign in January when the positive samples were reported. The second response to the virus discovery in Lahore was in February, and another response came in March.
In every campaign to help eradicate polio and keep communities safe, the Minister and the Coordinator exhorted parents and carers to make sure that their children are immunized. To ensure lifetime protection against the virus, the vaccination teams will continue to deliver the vaccine to doorsteps as required.
