The third National Immunisation Days campaign to immunise children against polio was inaugurated on Monday in Islamabad.

The campaign was inaugurated by Ayesha Raza Farooq, the focal person for polio eradication to the prime minister. Farooq administered the oral polio vaccine to children at the inauguration.

The week-long campaign will be carried out across the country and will aim to vaccinate 45 million children under the age of 5. A total of 400,000 polio workers, over half of them women, will lead the effort for polio vaccination. Strict security arrangements have also been made.

The country has already reported 10 positive cases of the polio virus so far. Samples of the virus have been detected in 272 sewage samples across 68 districts in the country, raising alarm.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last countries on the planet where polio virus is still endemic. Pakistan has launched sustained vaccination campaigns and is aiming to become polio free by the end of the year.