Health official says anti-polio vaccine was not administered to these children. PHOTO: FILE
A health department official confirmed the number of cases and said four of the cases were reported from North Waziristan Agency and one from South Waziristan Agency.
The infected children from North Waziristan were identified as 10-month-old Israr, 18-month-old Dilshad, 18-month-old Nabila and 24-month-old Shahidullah.
In South Waziristan, 12-month-old Kainat Bibi was infected with the virus.
The health official said anti-polio vaccine was not administered to these children.
Polio worker attacked
A female anti-polio worker and a child were injured in a grenade attack in Pashtunabad area on the outskirts of Quetta, Express News reported Sunday.
This is the latest incident in the continued attacks on anti-polio workers in the country.
Yesterday, anti-polio drive in-charge Zahir Shah was killed and another official was injured when unidentified men opened fire at Civil Hospital Mattani in Peshawar.
“Routine immunisation of children was going on in the hospital at the time of the attack,” Provincial health minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Shaukat Ali had stated.
The attacks come despite a recent fatwa by a prominent religious scholar, who urged parents to immunise their children against polio and other life-threatening diseases and said vaccinations were compliant with Sharia.
Gunmen have frequently attacked polio vaccination workers, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to sterilise Muslims.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic, but efforts to stamp out the crippling disease have been hit by repeated attacks on health teams.
A global eradication campaign has reduced polio cases by 99.9 per cent in the last three decades, but it remains endemic in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The disease is highly infectious and can cause irreversible paralysis.
Officials blame the violence and suspicions about the vaccine for a surge in cases. According to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan recorded 72 cases of polio this year compared to 58 in 2012.
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I agree with Appauled.
Put a fence around Pakistan and let the country fester and rot due to its own decisions. I also agree with him that Bharat's suggestion would do little for Pakistan. It would however meet the objective of preventing the spread to India, which is what Bharat rightly should care about.
Let me repeat that lots of nuclear “bums” and weapon systems could have bought by India with the money that has been wisely spent on controlling the scourge of polio. It would now be foolhardy for India to squander the effort, expense and sacrifice by permitting the entry of the polio virus via Pakistan irrespective of specious arguments about the need for maintaining people to people contact, helping divided families and using visit visa’s as confidence building measure to foster peace.
@Bharat R,
Here in Pakistan it does not matter what India does.. none of the restrictions imposed by India will make a single effect to anyone in Pakistan.. they will just shrug it off as India is an enemy of Pakistan and they will consider it a good reason for not taking the drops..
What I would propose is that
1: ARAB countries especially Saudi Arabia inforces a rule where No one can go to those countries without innoculation... Especially during HAJJ and UMRA and this should be heavily advertized in these areas...
2: A certificate should not be accepted as fake certificates would be provided...so if someone wants to go to these ARAB countries they need to bring their WHOLE family to an Approved center and get them innoculated.
3: The Imams of Khana Kaba and the Imam of Masjid Nabvi need to make a visit to Peshawar in a well publicized ANTI - POLIO visit..
then maybe the there will be some possitive inroads in erratidcation
sad!! to see such a state of affairs.
Clearly the eradication of the Polio virus in Pakistan is not something that is going to happen any time soon. The current proposed measure by India of insisting that all those who have been in Pakistan must have certificates of inoculation certifying that they have been vaccinated is not fool proof. So in order to prevent the polio virus joining the list of other unwelcome exports from Pakistan into India; namely terrorists, heroin and counterfeit Indian currency notes, it would be prudent for India to stop providing visa’s to Pakistanis to visit India and simultaneously prohibit Indian’s from visiting Pakistan.