ISLAMABAD: While launching a nationwide polio drive by administering vaccine to children at PM House, Mr Sharif said a polio-free Pakistan was a national goal and urged citizens to cooperate with polio teams for the complete eradication of the crippling disease.

“This is a testing time with the resurgence of recent polio cases and the related security incidents, but we can and will overcome it,” he said, calling upon federal, provincial and district administrations as well as the general public to ensure children under five years receive polio drops.

The current anti-polio campaign for Kar­achi and six districts of southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa started on August 15, while the national polio vaccination drive is scheduled to commence on August 22.

Mr Sharif, meanwhile, also chaired a meeting of the National Task Force for Polio Eradication, and expressed government’s resolve to taking practical measures for curbing wild poliovirus transmission in Pakistan.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, federal ministers Abdul Qadir Patel and Marriyum Aurangzeb, as well as represen­ta­tives of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation attended the launch.