Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif kicked off the nationwide drive by administering polio drops to children in the capital, Islamabad, saying Pakistan was unfortunately among the few countries that still suffered from the disease.
Official say that polio immunisation rates in the conservative province are well behind the rest of the country, with efforts hampered by widespread disinformation the vaccine is incompatible with religious beliefs, among other things. The government has also been prioritising COVID-19 vaccinations since they became available.
The newest drive was aimed at Islamabad and in the high-risk districts in eastern Punjab and southwestern Baluchistan province. A similar campaign will be launched in the northwest in the first week of December.
The finding of the poliovirus was also a reminder that if it exists anywhere in the world, it remains a threat everywhere, said Dr Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay, Deputy Director of Technology, Research and Analytics at the Foundation's Polio Team.
Regional vaccine coverage for polio has fallen to about 79%, the lowest since 1994, PAHO said.
"The upcoming polio vaccination campaign in four weeks' time... will target around 2.9 million children across the country," Malawi's health ministry director, Queen Dube, told AFP.
Around 285,000 frontline workers, respecting Covid-19 safety protocols, will go door-to-door in all 156 districts across Pakistan to give polio drops, according to an official statement.
The annual pulse polio vaccination drive, which marked National Immunisation Day, saw about 13.3 lakh children in Bengaluru being administered drops of the oral vaccine on Sunday.
A day after rumours spread in the Valley that polio vaccination caused death of children, which resulted in worried parents rushing their kids to hospitals, police today detained over a dozen persons for allegedly scaremongering about the immunisation programme.
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