Efforts on to root out poliovirus from Pakistan by year-end: minister

Efforts on to root out poliovirus from Pakistan by year-end: minister

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Federal Caretaker Minister for Health Dr Nadeem Jan on Saturday vowed that his ministry was providing and utilising all available resources to eradicate polio from Pakistan permanently till the end of the year 2023. “Polio-free Pakistan is a national goal which is now close to our mission of ending polio”, he said while talking to a private news channel. The minister said that the caretaker government was making all-out efforts to root out the poliovirus from the country and these endeavors would produce positive results. He urged the citizens to cooperate with polio teams for the complete eradication of the crippling disease from the country. “The Health Ministry has been actively involved in the polio immunization programme in the past few months and we will ensure that the focus on polio remains unwavering,” said the minister. “We are regularly holding awarness drives and religious workshops in which we are collectively working with religious scholars to build community trust and convey vaccine safety and efficacy in communities around Pakistan,” he added. The minister also called upon the federal, provincial and district administrations to address the challenges of persistently missed children and also encourage the people by raising awareness about the gravity of the situation. In response to a question, the minister replied that “the future of our children was at stake and we must protect them at all costs”. He said Pakistan was committed to eradicating the deadly poliovirus and would fulfill all its international obligations in this regard.