Lahore - The Punjab Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has ordered districts to prepare a list of all children deprived of polio vaccination in the recently concluded polio National Immunization Drive so that an effective follow up is done to cover them in the next campaign. The directions were given at a review meeting presided over by the EOC Coordinator and head of the polio programme in Punjab Mr Adeel Tasawwar. The health officials of the 36 districts participated in the review meeting, which was organized to review quality of the recently concluded national polio immunization campaign, via a video link. During the review, the districts briefed the EOC on the status of missed children and other pre as well as intra campaign indicators.Speaking on the occasion the EOC coordinator stressed on laid special emphasis on the missed children coverage, highlighting need to prioritize the persistently missed children. He directed the districts authorities to remove all such children from targets which are missed for more than two campaigns. He directed authorities to prepare lists of missed children in their respective lists and ensure their effective catch up in the upcoming campaign.

The EOC coordinator inquired from the districts about reasons of missed children and directed to initiate an analysis to reach the root-cause of the problem.

He called for name-wise development of lists detailing addresses and contact number of families of children missed in the polio campaigns so that a comprehensive follow-up is done to cover them in the next campaign.

The EOC coordinator warned officials against data fudging, instructing them to probe such matters and take action against officials at any level.

Mr Tasawwar instructed the districts to focus on low performing union councils especially those where indicators are constantly eroding, by ensuring strict supervision and monitoring.

The EOC coordinator also highlighted the need to register mobile and migrant populations in their districts.

In a remarkable display of leadership and commitment, Punjab achieved a significant milestone in November, concluding its third national polio immunization drive of 2024 with a vaccination coverage that exceeded 100%. The campaign was launched on October 28, which lasted seven days in mega cities including Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. While in rest of the districts the campaign lasted five days.