UAE polio campaign vaccinates millions of Pakistani children

The UAE has immunised millions of Pakistani children with than 44 million polio vaccines in the first three months of 2015 as part of the Emirates Polio Campaign launched under directives from President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan on an initiative by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces.

The UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAE-PAP) said total of 15,278,016 polio vaccine doses were given to Pakistani children aged under five years in March in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Sindh and the tribal provinces. In February, children in these regions were given 14,977,824 additional doses of the vaccine in February, while in January, 13,826,386 doses were administered.

The UAE-PAP polio campaign used more than 10,000 teams using healthcare centres and mobile units for remote villages, refugee camps and border areas.

The UAE-PAP administration said that the polio vaccination campaign is being carried out on schedule with the fourth dose expected to be completed this month.

The second phase of the "Emirates Polio Campaign" in Pakistan, targeting 17 million children in 53 areas with around 51 million vaccination doses under the slogan, "A Healthy and Bright Future for All".