LAHORE    -    Punjab Emergency Operations Centre Coordi­nator (EOC) and head of the polio programme in Punjab Khizer Afzaal has directed District Health Management Teams to deploy adequately trained polio teams at the transit sites during Eid so that no child missed vaccination during move­ment from one city to another. Khizer said this during a review with district teams which was held in Punjab EOC. The meeting was chaired by the EOC head and chief executive officers of 13 Punjab districts where polio campaign was held from March 13-19 participated via a video link. Lahore heath management team was pres­ent in the meeting in person. International polio eradication partners also participated. During the meeting, the EOC coordinator received a pre­sentation on the overall performance of districts during polio campaign based on the key indica­tors including Lot Quality Assurance Sampling, post-campaign monitoring and intra campaign monitoring results. The EOC coordinator was informed that overall coverage of the campaign stood at over 100 per cent while over 11.66 mil­lion children were vaccinated. The EOC coordi­nator was briefed that more than 0.78 million children received polio drops as guests which accounted for 6.7 per cent of the total children vaccinated. All the districts achieved coverage of more than 100 per cent, the EOC coordinator was informed. After the presentation, the EOC coordinator directed all districts to ensure data quality and treat vaccination of children at the transit points as a top priority. “Movement of families during Eid poses a challenge to polio eradication efforts. Virus can migrate alongwith families. So trained and well-equipped polio teams need to be deployed at the transit points during Eid”, underlined the EOC coordinator. The polio programme head called on the district teams to focus on trainings and to iron out all is­sues in microplans before the next polio eradica­tion campaign scheduled to begin in May. “The districts need to start working on the next cam­paign from today and make it even more success­ful. Begin from the revision in microplans and ensure that all areas and children are reflected in the plans”, the EOC Coordinator Khizer Af­zaal directed. “Before the next campaign district health teams need to make sure that vaccine car­riers are available to every team and vaccine cold chain is properly maintained”, underlined the EOC coordinator. The Punjab polio programme head hailed the performance of polio teams but cautioned that any discrepancy in data at any level would not be tolerated.