India To Vaccinate Afghanistan Returnees Against Poliomyelitis - Minister

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2021) India will vaccinate its nationals coming back from Afghanistan against poliomyelitis, the minister of health and family welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, said on Saturday.

"We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine - OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus," Mandaviya tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said that an evacuation plane with 168 passengers aboard, including 107 Indians, had taken off from Kabul. The official added that 87 citizens and two Nepalis who had been evacuated from Kabul to Tajikistan, also returned to India.

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious viral disease that hits the nervous system and can cause a complete paralysis within hours. The disease is endemic in some parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the World Health Organization.

Many Afghans have been trying to flee the country after the Taliban (designated terrorist by the UN and Russia) seized power last week. May countries have either reduced the number of embassy employees in Kabul or fully evacuated their diplomatic missions.