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At least 2,410,924 girls aged between 9 and 14 years have been vaccinated against cervical cancer during the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, which has been extended for three days until October 1.<\/p>\n
The campaign was originally scheduled to run from September 15 to 27.<\/p>\n
District health officers (DHOs) have been instructed to extend the campaign by conducting three additional \u201ccatch-up\u201d days from September 29 to October 1. These days aim to reach unvaccinated girls. The focus is on union councils (UCs) where vaccination rates have been low.<\/p>\n
The statement shared by the Directorate of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) on Monday said that DHOs have been directed to continue vaccination activities in schools with less than 80% coverage or those not yet visited during the initial campaign days.<\/p>\n
The EPI has also directed all field teams and supervisors to actively participate in the catch-up campaign without any additional budget allocation.<\/p>\n
On the final day of the campaign, 223,636 girls had been vaccinated against HPV until Sept 27, achieving 73% of the daily target, bringing the overall coverage to 66% of the total provincial target.<\/p>\n
The campaign is part of efforts to protect young girls against HPV, a leading cause of cervical cancer. It is being implemented across all districts of the province under the supervision of the EPI Directorate.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n