Afghanistan launches polio vaccine drive targeting 9.1 million kids

The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has launched a polio vaccination drive targeting 9.1 million children across the country.

"This is the second general polio vaccination campaign in 2022 aimed at vaccinating 9.1 million children under the age of five," Xinhua news agency said the regime as saying in a statement on Monday.

Provinces including Bamyan, Daykundi, and Ghor as well as some districts of Ghazni and Badakhshan are not included in the ongoing campaign due to cold weather, the government said.

The three-day campaign was launched in collaboration with the Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO), the statement said.

So far in 2022, one positive case of polio has been reported in the Asian country, while there were four in the entirety of 2021, according to the statement.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two remaining polio endemic countries in the world.

In Afghanistan, despite continuous concerted efforts to achieve a polio free status, the battle to finish the last mile has become a pivoting challenge, resulting in an increase in the number of cases during the last three years, according to the Unicef.

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, disrupted polio campaigns and other essential health services have created additional immunity gaps, which have resulted in the spike.

--IANS

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