New Delhi (NVI): Polio vaccinations have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan after the campaigns were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic months ago, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said.
Both the countries stopped immunization against polio in March to avoid the risk of COVID-19 transmission to children.
Since then, as a result there have been 34 polio cases in Afghanistan and 63 in Pakistan, including in some previously polio-free parts of the country, the UNICEF said.
The interruption postponed polio vaccines for about 50 million Afghan and Pakistani children, an easy protection against highly-infectious, crippling and sometimes fatal disease that can be avoided with a vaccine. Children under the age of five are particularly vulnerable.
“These life-saving vaccinations are critical if children are to avoid yet another health emergency,” Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, said in a statement.
“As the world has come to see only too well, viruses know no borders and no child is safe from polio until every child is safe,” she added.
Afghanistan, restarted polio immunization programmes in three provinces in July. A second campaign covering almost half of the country will start this month, the UN agency said.
In Pakistan, a initial round of vaccinations took place at the end of July, covering about 780,000 children. A nationwide vaccination campaign is slated to start later this month, it added.
However, the application of new vaccination guidelines and the use of protective equipment by frontline health workers will help ensure that vaccination campaigns resume safely.
According to UNICEF, while every effort will be made to reach children nationwide in both countries, there are concerns that that up to one million children in Afghanistan could miss out as door-to-door vaccinations are not possible in some areas and parents will have to make their way to health clinics to have their child vaccinated.
Nevertheless, Gough said that although we have experienced new challenges and a set-back in the fight against polio because of COVID-19, the eradication of this contagious disease will get back on track and is firmly within our reach.
“Together with the respective governments and other partners including the WHO, Rotary, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and with the dedicated work by frontline health workers, we are committed to reaching every child,” she said.
-RJV
