Breaking through: Parents give up resistance over polio campaign in Kohat

KOHAT:

Parents in Kohat have given up resistance over polio vaccinations for their children.

Earlier, 1,031 refusal cases were reported in Kohat. Consequently, Deputy Commissioner Riaz Mehsud formed negotiation teams to convince parents. A statement issued from DC office on Saturday said all the parents and guardians have been convinced and oral polio vaccine (OPV) has been administered to their children. Awareness and dialogue is perhaps the only silver bullet for the administration. Twenty-six arrest warrants were issued on Thursday against parents who refused to get their children immunised. However, despite the arrests, all the refusal cases could not be resolved until negotiation teams visited the designated areas and convinced parents about the significance of the vaccine.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2014.