Travellers from Pakistan will require polio vaccination from June 1

ISLAMABAD: Polio vaccination certificates will become mandatory for travellers from Pakistan to foreign countries from June 1.

According to Ministry of Health Services, provinces have been issued one million health certificates. Officials from the ministry say district health officers, medical superintendents and EDO health will be authorised officers for issuing polio certificates.

All major government hospitals and airports in provinces will have special polio counters. At airports officials from the Civil Aviation Authority and Health Ministry will issue vaccination certificates. It is mandatory to carry passports and present them at polio counters.

Polio cells have been formed at PIMS and Polyclinic hospitals in Islamabad.

Pakistan to set up polio vaccination points at airports

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will set up mandatory polio immunisation points at its international airports in response to recommendations by the World Health Organisation, the health ministry said Tuesday.

The WHO warned Monday that the crippling disease has re-emerged as a public health emergency, with the virus currently affecting 10 countries worldwide and endemic in three including Pakistan.

"Special measures will include establishing mandatory immunisation counters on all airports, border crossings and seaports for all travellers," said ministry spokesman Sajid Ali Shah.

The WHO had called on Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria, seen as posing the greatest risk of exporting wild poliovirus, to ensure all residents and long-term visitors receive a polio vaccine between four weeks and a year before travelling abroad. For urgent travel, at least one vaccine dose should be given before departure, according to the emergency committee, which also called for all travellers to be given certificates proving they have been immunised.

Shah could not confirm whether long-term non-Pakistani residents would also be subject to immunisation under the new initiative. "That will be decided in a meeting scheduled soon," he said.

According to the WHO, Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, up from 58 in 2012. It has also recorded 59 of the world´s 74 cases this year.

The disease has re-emerged in Pakistan because the Taliban and other militants violently oppose inoculation campaigns and because of public fears that the vaccine leads to infertility.

Militants see the polio campaign as a cover for foreign spying and regularly attack immunisation teams, killing some 56 people since December 2012.Their opposition has increased since a Pakistani doctor helped track down terror chief Osama bin Laden in 2011 using a fake vaccine project.

Last month officials announced they would begin administering polio drops to children at security checkpoints in the country´s lawless tribal belt.

India, which recently celebrated the eradication of the disease, announced in December it would require Pakistanis to obtain vaccination certificates six weeks before cross-border travel.

Polio vaccination proof mandatory for Pakistani nationalists to enter India after March 15

Though the requirement was supposed to come into effect from January, India extended the deadline to allow Pakistan to set up necessary infrastructure.

India on Tuesday announced that proof of vaccination against polio would be mandatory after March 15 for everyone entering India from Pakistan to safeguard the country’s polio-free status.
Travellers from Pakistan will have to carry vaccination certificate, which would be later returned to them along with their visa.
“Pakistani nationals resident in Pakistan and planning to travel to India after March 15, 2014 will be required to submit along with their visa applications a certificate of vaccination for one dose of Oral Polio Vaccination received at least four weeks prior to departure to India,” a statement released by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad said.
India had earlier announced that starting March 15, it would be mandatory for all persons – adults or children – travelling to the country from Pakistan to furnish proof of vaccination against the crippling disease.
“The step is being taken to safeguard India’s polio-free status attained after sustained efforts and investment,” an Indian High Commission official said.
Though the requirement was supposed to come into effect from January, India extended the deadline to allow Pakistan to set up necessary infrastructure.
The measure is applicable to all travellers from all countries where polio disease is endemic or where cases of polio are reported.
The number of polio cases in Pakistan, one of the only three countries where the disease is endemic, crossed over 90 last year. A number of fresh cases have also come to light this year.
Militants and gunmen frequently attack vaccination teams, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to “sterilise” Muslims.
The announcement came on a day when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting on polio at his residence.
Sharif said it is a matter of grave concern that there is a possibility of travel restrictions being imposed on Pakistanis since virus from Pakistan has been found linked to polio cases in other countries.
“Since it is a question of honour, image and prestige of our country, we must redouble our efforts to eradicate polio from our country,” Sharif was quoted as saying in an official statement.