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Pakistan to Resume Anti-Polio Drive as COVID-19 Infections Decline

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said Tuesday it would relaunch door to door
   vaccinations of children against polio next week after a four-month
   suspension due to the coronavirus outbreak.'¯
   The announcement comes amid a substantial decline in daily COVID-19
   infections across Pakistan, one of the two polio-endemic countries in
   the world along with its war-torn neighbor Afghanistan.'¯
   Pakistani officials have so far recorded 58 new polio cases this year
   from across the country amid warnings by the World Health Organization
   that "transmission continues to be widespread."
   The anti-polio drive, starting July 20, initially aims to vaccinate
   about 800,000 children under the age of five in high-risk Pakistani
   districts, including Karachi and Quetta, to protect them against the
   crippling disease.'¯
   The special assistant to the prime minister on health, Zafar Mirza,
   acknowledged the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns
   to prevent its spread have had a significant impact on Pakistan's
   already under-resourced and deteriorating public health care systems.'¯
   "With the disruption of essential immunization services due to the
   COVID-19 pandemic, children are continuously at a higher risk of
   contracting polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases," an official
   statement quoted Mirza as saying.

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