Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR (AJK), (Parliament Times) : Like rest of Azad Jammu Kashmir, 13-day Big Catch-up campaign has been launched for children under age of 5 years in lake district of Mirpur, who were not administered any dose of preventive vaccines for any reason, it was officially said.
The drive involves routine immunizations of the children under the age of 05 years against various diseases, DHO Mirpur AJK said.
In Mirpur district too the drive has been launched with the support of the World Health Organization and the Federal Directorate of Immunization, District Health Officer Dr. Fida Hussain Raja told our Special Jammu Kashmir state Correspondent Altaf Hamid Rao here on Tuesday.
Elaborating, he said. that the Big Catch-up campaign will continue from till June 28, 2025. In this campaign, about 16368 children will be vaccinated against 12 deadly diseases by the Public Health Department teams, he disclosed.
The District Health Officer said that routine immunization vaccinations will be given to children under the age of five in all EPI centers of the Public Health Department. In addition, 35 mobile teams of the Public Health Department will organize outreach sessions in different areas across the district and administer routine immunization vaccinations to children.
The District Health Officer Mirpur emphasized for the need of playing a full role regarding the effectiveness and importance of immunization and said that EPI is vaccinating children against 12 different deadly diseases, including dangerous diseases like congenital TB, hepatitis, pneumonia, measles, typhoid, polio, diphtheria and tetanus in children.
“Parents should vaccinate their children on time and complete the course. If for any reason a child had missed, then take full advantage of this Big Catch up campaign of the Public Health Department”, he strongly advised.
The District Health Officer further appealed to the public to cooperate with the state health department teams and get their children vaccinated to protect them from 12 deadly diseases to pave the way for creation of a true healthy society, he urged.