LAHORE: Some 18.5 million children up to five years of age will be vaccinated against polio during a five-day campaign being launched in Punjab today (Monday).

More than 44,000 teams have been constituted to carry out the first anti-polio campaign of 2018 more aggressively with focus on Rawalpindi, Lahore and south Punjab, said Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir.

`The Punjab government wants to build immunity of every child before the polio high-risk season starts in May this year.

Reaching and vaccinating every child is absolutely critical in order to ensure that no more child suffers from the incurable disease,` said the minister.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Ali Jan Khan said the five-day drive would be implemented as pan of the national campaign with the resolve to eradicate polio in 2018.

Punjab`s Emergency Operation Coordinator Dr Munir Ahmed said Pakistan was very close to eradicating polio and keeping cases of the crippling disease down to one in two years in Punjab has been a great success. Dr Munir said parents might contact helpline 0800-99000 if polio teams do not turn up in their areas.

Punjab had no polio case in 2016 but with the beginning of 2017 a child was paralysed by the virus in Lodhran. Eight polio cases were reported in 2017: one each from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, while Sindh recorded two and Balochistan three cases. No polio case was reported from Fata during the last year.