Canadian High Commissioner lauds Pakistan's polio eradication efforts ahead of immunisation drive

ISLAMABAD: Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Wendy Gilmour on Sunday lauded Pakistan for its efforts to eradicate polio, saying Ottawa saluted the team working to fight the virus, a day ahead of an immunisation drive across the country.

"Tomorrow, door to door #vaccination will resume in 169 high risk Union Councils, saving 770,000 children from this terrible disease," Gilmour wrote on Twitter.

The Canadian diplomat shared a brief video clip explaining how "a small effort today makes a great difference tomorrow".

"Let’s give healthcare workers our thanks and support," she added, with the video clip urging people to immunise "children against Polio and other diseases regularly".

Gilmour also tagged Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, the national coordinator for polio eradication, Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, and Aziz Memon, who heads the Rotary Club's Polio Plus programme that funds many of the polio immunisation teams.

A day prior, Dr Mirza had announced on Twitter that the "polio campaigns [would resume] in specific localities from July 20".

"All SOP’s of social distancing and safety of vaccination will be strictly followed," he said.

Earlier, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative's official Twitter account had tweeted a video explaining how the team would ensure safety during the immunisation campaign.

Data available on the endpolio.pk website when this story was filed showed there have been four cased recorded in Punjab, 20 in Sindh, 21 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 14 in Balochistan this year, aggregating to 59 cases in Pakistan, with none in Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

In 2019, 149 cases of polio were recorded across Pakistan.