Afghanistan launches polio vaccination targeting 9.9 million children

Kabul [Afghanistan], January 17 (ANI/Xinhua): The Afghan Public Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign on Sunday to give polio vaccination doses to 9.9 million children under the age of five, the ministry said in a statement.
The five-day drive was launched as 56 polio cases were detected in Afghanistan in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing insurgency and conflicts have been hindering the efforts to stamp out the infectious disease in the mountainous country as millions of children from areas inaccessible to vaccination teams might miss the ongoing vaccination drive.
Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan are the only two countries in the world that polio cases are reported every year, according to the statement. (ANI/Xinhua)