LAHORE    -   Polio eradication campaign launched in selected areas of Dera Ghazi Khan has been com­pleted. The five-day campaign was started on September 12 and ended on September 16. The campaign was launched in the flood-affected tehsils of Dera Ghazi Khan. Three tehsils were made part of the campaign. The tehsils which were included in the campaign are Taunsa, DG Khan and Tribal. 

More than 756,000 children were vaccinated in the cam­paign. In DG Khan tehsil, over 532,000 children were vacci­nated while in Taunsa and trib­al tehsils, more than 170 thou­sand and 50 thousand children were vaccinated. 

On the other hand, the cam­paign is under way in Rajanpur. Teams are going door-to-door in the flood hit district after wa­ter level subsided. More than 750,000 children will be vacci­nated in the five-day campaign.

The district was part of the National Immunization Days campaign. But the campaign was postponed after floods hit the district. Earlier, chairing a meet­ing in August, the head of the polio programme in Punjab and EOC coordinator Syedah Ramal­lah Ali had directed Mianwali, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, DG Khan, and Ra­him Yar Khan districts to make proper assessments of flooded areas through high-level officials including DDHOs and vaccinate all children against polio by Sep­tember 26.

The EOC coordinator had directed to the districts that vaccination of all children was mandatory as the risk of chil­dren falling prey to virus had in­creased manifold due to floods.

“Children who have missed their vaccination cannot be kept without the vaccine for a long time. Floods may spread diseases including polio virus. So children, especially in the missed zones, are more at risk,” she observed. 

The districts had informed the coordinator that water had receded in most of the areas and campaign would be held in the given deadline. 

While Mianwali, Layyah, Mu­zaffargarh, Bahawalpur and RY Khan have already completed vaccination of children against polio in their union councils while DG Khan has wrapped up the campaign on Friday. The campaign in Rajanpur would continue till September 23.

OVER 9.8M PEOPLE VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19 IN FAISALABAD

Over 9.8 million people have so far been vaccinated against Co­vid-19 in the district. District Health Officer Dr Ataul Mun’im said on Tuesday 4,907,267 citi­zens were injected first dose while 4,820,648 were admin­istered the second dose of vac­cine. He further said that 39,881 health workers were also given first dose while 45,763 received the second dose of vaccine. 

He said that sufficient stock of coronavirus vaccine was available in the district. As of now 12,973 first doses and 8,649 second doses were in the stock in Faisalabad. He said that 37 vaccination centers and 20 mobile vaccination camps were operational in Faisalabad where registered people were being vaccinated. In order to fa­cilitate the people these centers had been established in various areas of the city.

He said that timing of these vaccination centers was 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. except Sports Complex Samanabad center which would remain open round the clock.