Karachi, Pakistan: First phase of the ongoing campaign to administer oral polio vaccine (OPV) has been completed in five days in Karachi with around 92.5% coverage in three of its districts including West, Malir and South, reports state run news agency.
Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI – Sindh) officials sharing details of the campaign with state run news agency APP Friday said 10 lac and 74 thousand children of the targeted population of around 1.1 million under five children were covered during the first phase that marked its beginning on Monday.
Given the fact that certain percentage of children are still to be covered we have decided that second phase of the OPV campaign that began today would also include parts of district West along with East, Korangi and Central districts, said the official.
“In a nutshell 2.2 million under five children from Karachi would be administered OPV during a week’s time,” he said. In reply to a question, he said stringent security arrangements have been made for the workers with due care to trace missed children and get them necessarily vaccinated against the crippling disease. Notables belonging to each of the areas as well as community workers and volunteers all are being actively engaged. In the third phase of the exercise 5.9 million under five kids from interior parts of Sindh will be administered OPV from September 14 to September 18.
Karachi has been a dangerous city for OPV workers in past as terrorist outfit Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had been attacking and even killing health workers who had been working in Pushtun-dominated areas of Pakistan.
TTP had been attacking polio workers all over Pakistan except Punjab because Punjab has less Pushtun-dominated areas. Terrorist outfit TTP who is a group of Pushtun-dominated terrorists is of the view that OPV is a part of international conspiracy to make boys impotent so west can control increasing population of Muslims particularly Pushtuns population. Such attacks are normal in Afghanistan also.
