Why the study?
The COVID-19 pandemic halted mass polio vaccination campaigns and threatened polio eradication efforts in Pakistan, prompting a discussion of ongoing efforts and challenges.
Despite disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed immunization drives in Pakistan helped prevent a significant rise in polio cases in 2020.
Supports sustaining polio campaigns during health crises; leaves open generalizability to other settings.
Poliomyelitis, a crippling viral disease, has been affecting many children in Pakistan despite the numerous efforts that have been taken to curb its spread. The COVID-19 pandemic has halted mass polio vaccination campaigns globally, including Pakistan, resulting in a resurgence of new cases. Pakistan managed to flatten the COVID-19 curve from July to October that made three immunization drives possible, but the COVID-19 cases are on the rise again which can again complicate the polio situation in the country if left unmonitored. The efforts of Pakistan have been effective with no significant rise in polio cases in 2020 as compared with 2019. We discuss the numerous challenges faced by the polio eradication program in Pakistan. To help eliminate polio, Pakistan needs to enhance its efforts in the struggle against polio with the same zeal and stringency used to flatten the curve of COVID-19 in these challenging times.
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Ahmad et al. (2020) studied this question.
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