Polio-infected child from Balochistan was administered vaccine, insists father

Says 18-month-old daughter was administered drop by him every 5 months.


Shezad Baloch July 26, 2014

QUETTA: The father of an 18-month-old polio affected child has said that his daughter was infected with the virus despite being administered vaccine drops by him personally three months ago in the Qila Abdullah district of Balochistan.

There have been four campaigns in Union Council Mezai since March 2014, but polio workers visited his house once, Kadeem Khan, 22, told The Express Tribune.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef confirmed on Thursday that 18-month-old Nazu Bibi had polio virus. It was the first case after 30 months since October 2012 in the province of Balochistan.

“I never refused to administer polio drops to my only child,” Khan told The Express Tribune.

He had lived in Bilal colony near the Korangi area of Karachi for five years, where he had administered polio drops to his baby.

“I came back [to Qila Abdullah five months ago]. Three months earlier, I administered polio drops [to my child] when polio workers had visited my house,” he said.

He added that his daughter had been administered polio drops once in five months.

Khan said his daughter was running fever, and her hands and legs stopped functioning. He took her to a hospital, where doctors confirmed she has polio virus getting samples.

Khan, however, avoided blaming anyone, saying, "it happened because Allah wanted it to happen. I believe my child will recover. Earlier, my child could not move her hands and legs, but now she is [much] better,” he told The Express Tribune.

The health department has constituted a team, comprising officials of Unicef and WHO, to investigate the new case.

COMMENTS (2)

Karim Khan | 9 years ago | Reply

It's not "herd immunity" but "herd immunity" and it is a completely self-made and self-serving unscientific topic. Infections have been reported from supposedly immunized areas and this case is an example too. The fact that the vaccine is not safe is admitted by WHO. It is not a conspiracy theory. The myth that vaccines are safe are the actual conspiracy theories because they put public health at risk. If the vaccine failed to stop cleanse the child of the viral infection (as you assume the child had already) then it obviously shows the vaccine is a failure. I would have asked for independent investigation into this case to check whether it is another case of vaccine-derived polio virus.

Chopra | 9 years ago | Reply

Most likely the child was infected before the vaccine could generate an immune response. Vaccine would have been much more effective if it was administered to every child in the area. Its called heard immunity. That way there would be few hosts for the virus to survive in and around the newborn and young children. For every 1 symptomatic child there are 200 others who carry the virus silently. Some medical knowledge needs to be decimated in Pakistan. Please don't follow the conspiracy theories that the vaccine is at fault. Its the whole worlds health at risk. The virus can easily travel outside and survive in the week and very young.

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