Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher appreciated a 23-year-old Pakistani polio worker, Irfanullah, in a heartfelt Facebook post. Irfanullah is a native of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district and rose to popularity after his hard-at-work pictures went viral on social media.
A viral video of Irfanullah trudging through waist-deep snow in K-P’s Bashegram area to administer polio drops to children, has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook.
Taking to social media, Ashton Kutcher shared a video of Irfanullah, and captioned it, “This guy is a hero.”
A clip that previously went viral was shot and uploaded by a friend. It earned Irfanullah worldwide acclaim after it was posted on the social media pages of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef).
Back home, Irfanullah and a few of his fellow vaccinators were honoured by Prime Minister Imran Khan in a special meeting at the PM House last month.
On Thursday, the premier took to Twitter to praise Irfanullah and his peers who are working towards a polio-free Pakistan. “Irfan is one of 260,000 heroes who reach out to children with polio vaccines in extreme weather conditions. His viral video has left every individual with a sense of awe and pride. This dedication is what will enable us [Pakistan] to achieve our goal of a polio-free nation #SalamPolioWorker,” the PM tweeted.
Irfanullah insists that it must not take away from the urgency of the mission to end polio in Pakistan.
