Vaccination in quake-hit areas to begin from tomorrow
By saad ahmad

ISLAMABAD—A special vaccination campaign will be launched from Monday in relief camps set up in Azad Kashmir andNWFP to protect the quake- affected people from tetanus, diphtheria and meningitis.
According to officials sources in the Ministry of Health here on Saturday, the children over two years of age and adults will be administered tetanus and diphtheria vaccines during a week-long campaign.
The children over seven years of age and adults will also be vaccinated against meningitis during the drive. An official of the Ministry informed about 70 percent people have already been vaccinated against these diseases soon after the October 8 earthquake but this new campaign will cover all those who have recently joined the camps after coming down from hills in the wake of snowfall.
He said the vaccination teams have already administered vaccine against measles to 850,000 people, adding, "But, we are starting a special campaign from Monday to cover those people who are coming down from hilly areas and joining the camps."
Ruling out outbreak of any disease in the affected areas, hesaid the situation is totally under control and only a few cases of measles and pneumonia were reported.
He said severe cold weather has gripped the entire affected areas, hence, the cases of pneumonia and respiratory diseases are increasing. He said that sufficient stock of medicines are available for the treatment of these diseases.
Two million doses of meningitis have already been brought to the camps, while one million doses of haeomphillus influenza are being imported with cooperation of WHO and Unicef, he added.
He said the spraying and fogging covering each area twice was started from October 11.
About 270 mobile teams have been engaged for vaccination by the federal and provincial health authorities, Unicef and World Health Organization (WHO) to protect the children soon after the earthquake.
The local health authorities have also been involved in vaccination campaign in affected areas of Azad Kashmir and NWFP.
The mobile teams from Punjab province were also deployed in the affected areas for vaccination of children.
He said in a bid to avert measles outbreak, the children upto age of 15 years were vaccinated against this disease by the mobile teams. The vitamin-A drops are also being given to children from 6 months to 5 years of age.