The campaign activities will be monitored by more than 500 national monitors. A total of 43,033 vaccination teams, 7,922 area supervisors and 1,296 zonal supervisors will participate in the drive. The main focus of the campaign will be on administering anti-polio drops to children living in high-risk areas, he added.
The official also said that polio vaccine being used in Pakistan is safe and effective and is produced internationally while WHO has approved its quality.
He said the vaccine is the same that has been used in most of the world to eradicate polio including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Further, UN agencies, partners, donor governments, private sector and foundations have extended all possible support to ensure that the necessary resources are available to ensure making Pakistan polio free, he added.
The Ministry of Health has appealed the parents to administer polio drops to their children for success of the campaign that started for complete eradication of polio. It also asked community leaders, media persons, religious scholars, health workers and teachers to play their role in this regard and educate the parents.
It further said that for any reasons, if any child misses polio dose during the campaign, take him or her to nearest vaccination centre, hospital or basic health unit. Minister for Health, Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani set the year 2009 as the deadline to eliminate polio from the country.
He said that the government is committed to revitalising routine immunisation, as a key strategy for eradicating polio and improving overall child health. Due to the sudden rise in polio cases, the health ministry is determined to remove all bottlenecks in this regard and will take up the daunting challenge to administer polio drops to children in every nook and corner of the country.