KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed health department to resume polio eradication initiative from July 20 so that the crippling virus could be eradicated along-with on-going drive to contain COVID-19 in the province.
This he said while presiding over a Provincial Task Force meeting for Polio Eradication here at CM House. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Nasir Shah, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Police Mushtaq Maher, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, ACS Home Usman Chachar, provincial secretaries, Dr Shaukat Chandio of UNICEF, Dr Aslif Demissie of WHO, Provincial Coordinator EOC Fayaz Abbasi, Shahbaz Wazir Ali, Aziz Memon of Rotary International and other concerned.
Coordinator EOC Fayaz Abbasi briefing the chief minister said that there were 58 cases of polio in the country, of them 20 in Sindh, 21 in KPK, 14 in Balochistan, and three in Punjab. The date of the most recent case in Sindh was reported on June 9, 2020.
Vaccine Derived Polio Virus 2 (VDPV2): The chief minister was told that 16 VDPV2 were isolated from 10 environmental sites in Sindh, six in 2019 and 10 in 2020. In Karachi 15 VDPV2 were isolated from nine sites as follows:
Distt West: Site Town (Orangi Nalla, Qasaba Colony and Frontier Colony.
Distt East: Gadap Town: Sohrab Goth, Machar Colony.
Distt Malir: Bakhtawar village of Landhi Town.
Distt Korangi: Korangi Town: The areas include Korangi Nalla.
Distt South: Hijrat Colony of Saddar Town.
Sukkur: VDPV2 isolated from Makka Pumping Station.
In March 2020, 100 samples from healthy children were collected from draining UCs of Orangi Nalla Site Town; one sample was found positive for VDPV2 from District Central -North Nazimabad town. There were two, VDPV2 human cases from Karachi SITE and Baldia town in May 2020.
Resumption of polio campaign: The chief minister was told that the COVID-19 negatively impacted Polio Eradication Initiative in Pakistan for certain reasons. They include all kinds of Polio campaigns stopped since March 2020; AFP surveillance impact reflected through declining of reported AFP cases; essential immunization coverage for EPI antigens declined by more than 50 percent from the coverage before COVID-19 and Transit point vaccination program stopped since March 2020.
It was pointed out that an average of 700,000 under five years of age children could be vaccinated monthly. Without any vaccination, transmission begins to spread geographically from Sept 2020 with most transmission focused in Northern, Central and Southern Corridors and Karachi.
Alternating Serial Number Identification Number (SNIDs) and NIDs during July 2020 to Feb 2021 had a substantial impact on Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) transmission and case burden.
Vaccine Derived Polio Virus: Large nationwide accumulation of populations is susceptible to type 2 polio. High risks for very large nationwide outbreak. Conducting Polio SIAs will not substantively increase COVID-19 risk and the SIAs will significantly decrease polio transmission.
Risk mitigation: Supplemental Immunization Activity (SIA) modalities have been revised with the objective not to introduce COVID-19 to communities not infected previously; Screen polio workers for symptoms to reduces risk to households; Health worker urged to use mask, sanitizer and ensure limited physical contact, particularly with adults, reduces risk to households; Children are low risk for COVID-19 infection, disease, transmission; Risk to polio workers can be significantly reduced by: Being from the same community, avoiding contact with symptomatic individuals (esp. adults), Reducing unnecessary contacts and Reducing risk of infection (PPE) mask and hand sanitizer, physical distancing.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020