Polio vaccination campaign postponed in Swabi over security concerns

PESHAWAR, 18 February : The polio vaccination campaign in 24 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the whole FATA region got underway on Thursday.

However, vaccination campaign has been postponed in Swabi due to security concerns. According to a statement of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Emergency Operation Centro, over 5.2 million children below the age of five years will be administered polio drops in the four-day campaign. Over 16,000 teams will administer polio drops to children.

The vaccination campaign has been postponed in Swabi after the murder of district polio coordinator and two Counter Terrorism Department officials in the area few days ago.

About 965,000 children in FATA will also be administered polio drops during the four-day campaign. The campaign will be carried out for five days in North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Frontier Region Bann u and Jamrud and Bara areas of Khyber Agency.

KP Governor Sardar Mehab Ahmed Khan also held a meeting with the officials of the Bill Gates Foundation on Thursday to make the vaccination campaign successful in FATA.