key: cord-0715545-wg5tfapg
authors: Haqqi, Aleena; Zahoor, Sarmad; Aftab, Muhammad Nauman; Tipu, Imran; Rehman, Yasir; Ahmed, Haroon; Afzal, Muhammad Sohail
title: COVID‐19 in Pakistan: Impact on global polio eradication initiative
date: 2020-07-11
journal: J Med Virol
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26240
sha: 1bc8f434cb151b4d17c599bd70f18e192dfe3002
doc_id: 715545
cord_uid: wg5tfapg

A recent report reviewed the polio epidemiology in Pakistan 1 . Pakistan is currently showing a very high number of COVID-19 cases2 . The outbreak of COVID-19 has been known to cause by SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that emerged by the end of December 2019. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

To the Editor, A recent report reviewed the Poliomyelitis (polio) epidemiology in Pakistan. 1 Pakistan is currently showing a very high number of COVID-19 cases. 2 The outbreak of COVID-19 has been known to cause by SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that emerged by the end Many challenges lie in the way of making Pakistan a polio-free region; a major hurdle is the high number of children missed during vaccination campaigns, refusal from parents, illiteracy, poverty, misconceptions related to its halal nature, and administration of expired polio vaccine. 14 In addition to these challenges, Pakistan was struggling hard to eradicate polio but since late March 2020, a standstill in routine immunizations has been observed amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The lockdown of schools, public gatherings, public transport, public, and private hospitals restricted out-patient departments have F I G U R E 1 Number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Pakistan (From 1st March 2020 to 19th June 2020). *Data collected from National Institute of Health, Pakistan (NIH) 4 

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