Pakistan launches anti-polio, measles and rubella campaign

Pakistan on Monday began a two-week nationwide vaccination campaign targeting more than 57 million children, aiming to curb rising cases of measles, rubella and polio, the country's National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said.

- Tariq Butt | Associated Press

The drive, running through Nov. 29, will provide measles and rubella shots to 34.5 million children and administer polio drops to 23.3 million, it said in a statement. The campaign follows training by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of more than 140,000 health workers to support vaccination teams.

The NEOC said that children from six months to five years will be administered the vaccination. The district with a high ratio of polio cases will also be administered the polio vaccine. The vaccine will be administered in health centers, schools, madrasahs, and temporarily established vaccination centers.

In Punjab, more than 17.3 million children will be vaccinated against measles and rubella. The NEOC further revealed that more than 8.263 million children in Sindh will be vaccinated against measles and rubella.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), more than 5.988 million children, 2.73 million children in Balochistan, 624,000 children in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and more than 225,000 children in Islamabad will be vaccinated against measles and rubella.