Parents urged to vaccinate children under five against polio

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq has urged parents and guardians to ensure every child under five years of age receives polio drops during the ongoing sub-national vaccination campaign. The campaign, which began on September 21 and will continue until September 27, is being conducted in 115 selected districts across the country and aims to vaccinate more than 31 million children, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan and Minute Mirror.

Farooq called the campaign an important step towards protecting children from poliovirus and closing remaining immunity gaps. She said the recent decline in positive environmental samples was encouraging, but warned that the threat of poliovirus had not been completely eliminated. "As long as the poliovirus exists anywhere, we must ensure access to vaccination for every child," Minute Mirror quoted her as saying.

She said Pakistan’s polio eradication programme continued to face challenges, but frontline workers were carrying out household visits across the country despite difficult circumstances. Farooq appealed to parents and guardians to cooperate with vaccination teams and ensure that no child below five was missed during the campaign. She said repeated vaccination was important for strengthening children’s immunity and reducing the risk of poliovirus transmission in communities.

The focal person also called upon religious scholars, media organisations, community leaders and other influential members of society to support the national polio eradication effort and help create greater awareness among parents. She said community cooperation was essential for ensuring that vaccination teams could reach every eligible child, particularly in areas where access remained difficult.

She emphasised that the responsibility for protecting children from polio did not rest solely with health workers or government departments. Parents and communities also had an important role in ensuring timely vaccination. She urged families to allow trained polio workers to administer the vaccine during household visits and to seek guidance from health authorities if they had concerns.

"Protecting every child from polio is a national responsibility," Farooq said. She expressed hope that with continued cooperation from parents, religious scholars, community representatives, media and frontline workers, Pakistan would be able to further strengthen its efforts towards eliminating poliovirus and protecting future generations from the disease.