Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza Friday said no new polio related travel restrictions have been issued for Pakistan.
“The WHO Emergency Committee recommendations (not travel restrictions) were first made in May 2014 and have since then been periodically reviewed and extended for all countries infected by polio virus,” Dr Zafar said in a statement.
“Pakistan had a challenging year via-a-vis polio in 2019. As of today, 134 of our children have been paralysed by this debilitating disease. The government has put in place a comprehensive plan to reverse the situation in 2020 starting with the roll out of a successful nationwide Polio vaccination campaign in December,” said a spokesman of the ministry.
Commenting on the WHO IHR Emergency Committee recommendations regarding vaccination of international travelers from Pakistan and other infected countries, the spokesman said the recommendations were made in 2014 to prevent transmission of virus from infected countries to other areas. “Pakistan implemented the same immediately as a responsible member of the international community and has been doing so since then”, he remarked.
He said over 500,000 international travelers from Pakistan receive polio vaccine every month prior to departure and the certificate issued in this respect is valid for 12 months. Around 180,000 travelers of all ages are additionally vaccinated every month at Pak-Afghan border crossings, he said, and denied reports of any additional recommendations imposed by the WHO committee for the international visitors traveling to Pakistan. “Pakistan polio eradication programme faced special challenges in 2019 which led to resurgence of polio cases during the year. The programme, however, conducted a critical analysis of the situation and devised a comprehensive strategy to overcome challenges in a sustainable manner,” he said. “Our fight back has already started through the successful December NID that was inaugurated by the prime minister in the federal capital and all chief ministers in respective provinces. A total of 40 million children under five years of age were successfully reached and vaccinated to protect them against the crippling virus,” he said.
