Four-day anti-polio campaign has begun in Karachi on Tuesday and will continue till May 27.
Commissioner Karachi Asif Haider Shah initiated the drive after inoculating polio drops to children in Sindh Government Hospital Korangi No.5.
More than 2.2 million children will be administered with polio vaccine for which over 6220 teams will participate in the campaign. Heavy contingent of Rangers and police will be deployed for the security of volunteers.
While talking to media, Commissioner Karachi expressed grief over the deaths of two policemen in Orangi Town last month who were guarding polio teams.
In Hyderabad, the deferred polio campaign has been relaunched that will continue till May 26. The campaign will administer polio drops to as many as 3,10,599 children.
1964 polio teams have been arranged for the purpose who will visit houses, hospitals, dispensaries and railway stations to vaccinate the minors.
Attacks in a city impact health department’s activities in other cities as well. An attack on an anti-polio team in Karachi in April martyred seven policemen resultantly, a drive, ongoing in Multan was deferred for as many as seven days.
However, number of polio cases has declined in the recent years in Pakistan. Year 2015 witnessed 54 cases in the country which was an 80 percent fall from the earlier figures.
Reach of polio teams to remote areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of the country was supported by successful Operation Zarb-e-Azb that was launched in mid 2014 to eradicate militancy.
At least 98 percent of children were vaccinated against the crippling virus in FATA in March which was a big leap for health authorities compared with previous years when teams could not reach different areas owing to threats and insurgency.