ISLAMABAD: Pakistan to set up polio vaccination points at airports
Pakistan will set up mandatory polio immunisation points at its international airports in response to recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the health ministry said Tuesday.
The WHO had warned on May 5 that the crippling disease has re-emerged as a public health emergency, with the virus currently affecting 10 countries worldwide and endemic in three including Pakistan.
“Special measures will include establishing mandatory immunisation counters on all airports, border crossings and seaports for all travellers,” said ministry spokesperson Sajid Ali Shah.
The WHO had called on Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria, seen as posing the greatest risk of exporting wild poliovirus, to ensure all residents and long-term visitors receive a polio vaccine between four weeks and a year before travelling abroad.
For urgent travel, at least one vaccine dose should be given before departure, according to the emergency committee, which also called for all travellers to be given certificates proving they have been immunised.
Categories: Africa, Asia, Pakistan, Syria, The Muslim Times
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