Setback to polio eradication campaign

A television anchor recently ran 3 programmes on the issue of polio, tried to show that the vaccine is dangerous.

LAHORE: A well-known television anchor recently ran three programmes on the issue of polio. I was quite shocked when I saw them because in them the anchor tried to show that the polio vaccine is dangerous for our children, an action that could cause irreparable harm to the country’s polio eradication programme. In particular a vial of the vaccine was shown and viewers were told that if the vial had been exposed to high temperatures, administering the vaccine from it could lead to death. This is completely untrue! He spoke of a circle on the vial when he made this outlandish statement and I would like to clarify that the purpose of this circle is only to monitor changes which could lead to a loss of its effectiveness as a vaccine.  That does not at all mean that a child who is administered the vaccine from such a vial will die.

By saying so, however, the anchor has done great disservice to the cause of polio eradication. No death has been reported so far anywhere of a child dying after being administered polio drops.

Furthermore, while talking on a technical subject such as polio eradication it would have been only appropriate if an expert from the field had been invited to speak on the show as well. I do not understand why politicians were invited because their knowledge on polio and its eradication/prevention would be negligible.

As a result of this very ill-informed discussion about polio eradication, the only thing that must have happened is that many parents who saw the programme would now think twice before immunising their children against polio. So, if a child then ends up contracting the illness, who will be held responsible?

Professor Tariq Iqbal Bhutta

Chairman Polio Eradication Certification Committee

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2012.