Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique while speaking at the inauguration of the IPV (Inactivated Polio Vaccine) campaign in Punjab here at Mian Munshi Hospital on Monday has said that Pakistan is catching up with the rest of the world in eradicating polio from the country while the country is now pacing towards polio's endgame strategies.
Salman further said that in line with the best global practices, Pakistan is more vigorously focussing polio's endgame strategies, and introduction of IPV is a milestone for this. Director General Health Dr Zahid Pervaiz, MS Dr Muhammad Ameer, EDO Health Lahore Dr Zulfiqar Ali, DOH Dr Saeed, Unicef representative and other officers were also present on the occasion.
The IPV campaign has been started in 140 selected union councils of eight districts (Lahore, Rawalpindi, Mianwali, Multan, DG Khan, Muzaffargarh, RY Khan and Rajanpur) on Monday. The campaign will be continued till June 16 and will target 364,033 children of four to 23 months with 901 outreach teams working in the field besides 224 fixed sites.
Salman further said Punjab reported only four cases in 2014. "This year, so far there has been no case in the province. And we hope and pray that by the end of the year this number stays unchanged," he added. He appreciated the efforts of frontline workers and the EPI programme for making Pakistan polio free.
From July 2015, the IPV will be introduced in all 36 districts as part of routine immunisation under which the IPV will be administered to the children of the age group of 14 weeks, he mentioned. The Advisor said the IPV and the Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) go hand in hand till the complete eradication. The OPV still mainly used to eradicate polio. The IPV is given through an injection by a trained vaccinator. Multiple studies have shown that IPV given to the children, who have also received OPV as well, makes the best combination to boost immunity. This means that not only individual children are better protected from polio virus. That is why a child should be given one dose of IPV and continues to receive OPV as many times as it is offered, he added. It may be noted that the IPV was introduced in addition to OPV in the highest-risk areas in Fata, KP and Quetta to control poliovirus transmission in 2014 in order to quickly maximise child immunity against polio and stop transmission of polio.
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