RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: The May round of anti-polio drive successfully concluded in selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 99.25 percent vaccination status reflecting the hard work and commitment of the teams on ground that brave many challenges to vaccinate the target children.

In a press release issued by Emergency Operations Center Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here on Friday, 4432 million children were vaccinated so far by the teams out of the total target of 4466 million children.

It said that 34176 children were still not available while total refusals stand at 13044 (0.29%) taking the total number of missed children to 47220 which is one percent of the total target population.

Coordinator EOC Atif Rehman while appreciating the motivation and commitment of Sehat Muhafiz for polio eradication said that phenomenal achievements have been made in polio eradication due to the efforts and hard work of teams and the support of the community.

He said that last polio case in Peshawar was reported in February 2016 and it is more than two years now that the provincial capital was free of polio case which speaks volumes of the efforts put in by the teams under the guidance and supervision of the government and technical experts.

Regarding the baseless propaganda against polio vaccine on social and traditional media, Rehman said that polio vaccine was certified by World Health Organization (WHO) and Pakistan Drug Regulatory Authority and was completely safe for the children.

It is pertinent to mention here that the May campaign was the last campaign of the low transmission season and was of great importance to stop virus circulation in the province.