During the last month’s anti-polio drive in Punjab, the government left 294,000 children unvaccinated, posing a serious threat to their health. The provincial capital, Lahore, was the worst affected city, with 3.3% of the ‘still missed children’ left unvaccinated. This negligence has been a cause for concern for global health bodies funding and leading the drives internationally.
Despite dispatching over 100,000 health worker teams to immunize the target kids, the Punjab government missed 3.2 million children, constituting 14.6% of the target population. The Independent Monitoring Board set a target for Pakistan and Afghanistan to interrupt the polio virus circulation by the end of 2023, but the reservoirs of the polio virus have been detected in Lahore and other parts of Punjab.
The government’s nonseriousness towards the vaccination initiative has been highlighted in an assessment report by the health department, which identified 269 poorly covered areas in Punjab. The report also raised concerns about the environmental sample testing positive for poliovirus transmission in Lahore.
It is clear that the missed children are a big threat to anti-polio activities in Punjab and Pakistan as a whole. The health authorities need to address this issue urgently to eliminate the crippling disease from the country.