Polio vaccination campaign suspended in 3 UCs of Mardan

MARDAN: The polio vaccination campaign has been postponed in four union councils of Mardan for three days to arrange full security for the vaccination teams.

TNN correspondent reported that the vaccination campaign has been postponed in Babini, Kodina, Bakhshali and Fatima as security personnel were not available for the vaccination teams. Due to shortage of security personnel, the campaign was postponed.

The LHW Coordinator in Mardan Dr Fahad Ibqal said a large number of vaccination teams were formed to make the vaccination campaign successful in Mardan like rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, he said, a problem surfaced in shape of shortage of security personnel for protecting the vaccination teams. He said eventually a decision was taken to suspend the campaign in four union councils to make sure that all vaccination teams get full security. He said risk could not be taken in current circumstances, and the decision was taken in greater interest of all stakeholders in order to avoid any untoward occurrence.

Dr Fahad said the suspended campaign in four union councils will kick off on Tuesday, while it would continue as per previous schedule in Mardan and Takht Bhai tehsils. He said vaccination in Katlang, Rustam and Garhi Kapoora will commence after three days in the second phase.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Saadat Khan said the number of policeman was adequate for the polio vaccination campaign, but this step was taken to provide fool-proof security to vaccination teams, and avoid any untoward incident. He said that currently as many as 2,443 policemen have been deployed for security duties of polio vaccination teams in Mardan.

The KP government launched a massive polio vaccination drive on Friday during which over 3.7 million children below the age of five years would be vaccinated.

During the campaign, children from 18 districts across the province would be vaccinated during the campaign. As many as 16,000 teams had been formed for the drive and over 26,000 security personnel deployed to protect the polio teams.

Campaign Coordinator Abdul Basit said 16,731 trained teams had been formed for the campaign, and 15,965 mobile, 708 transit and 58 roaming teams would be there to support the overall campaign.