A three-day anti-polio drive was started in Swabi on Monday, which was cancelled due to security concerns last week. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Department said 260,000 children will be vaccinated during the campaign. According to the Swabi police, tight security measures have been taken in the district: 629 mobiles have been deployed for the anti-polio campaign, which will be run by 59 fixed teams, 25 transit teams and four roaming teams.
The three-day anti-polio campaign was scheduled to start on November 30 but the health workers refused to participate in protest against killing of EPI District Co-ordinator Dr Yaqoob, who was shot dead and his driver injured when unidentified assailants opened fired on his car in Swabi. After Yaqoob's killing, the health and EPI staff had refused to run door-to-door campaign over security fears, agreeing only to vaccinate children inside health centres. Pakistan remains one of only two countries on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) list of polio-endemic countries.