Polio virus: 69,389 children remain unvaccinated in K-P

Despite awareness campaigns, parents of 6,119 children refuse polio vaccine

PESHAWAR: As officials involved in anti-polio campaigns struggle to prevent the spread of virus, some 69,389 children in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) remain unvaccinated even after the repeated campaigns launched during National Immunisation Drive (NID) across the province.

The campaign was launched on November 20 where around 5.8 million children below the age of five were administered the polio vaccine, with 69,383 left unvaccinated.

The figure was higher initially but dropped down to 69,383 by Tuesday.



“We have always been saying that the virus can be eliminated in a single campaign if all the children are vaccinated leaving not even a single one behind. Even if one child is left unvaccinated, it harms the entire programme,” a senior health official said.

An official, on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that despite repeated awareness campaigns launched across the province, some parents still refuse to get their children vaccinated which was the main problem the officials faced in carrying out the campaign successfully.

According to Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) report, out of the total of 69,389 children who remained unvaccinated, 63,270 were not available in their homes during the visit of the polio teams while the parents of 6,119 children refused to get their children vaccinated.

“We call them ‘not available’ when they are not at their homes but they are available somewhere else for instance in schools, grandparents’ home, uncles’ or anywhere else and may have received the vaccination. However, the main problem is when parents refuse polio workers to vaccinate their children,” the official said.

“If you don’t vaccinate 22,138 children, sitting right under your nose, you will not be able to root this virus out of the province,” the official said.

In Peshawar alone, some 18,324 children were not available at home during the polio teams’ visit while parents of 3,814 children refused to get their children inoculated.



Peshawar was followed by Charsadda district where parents of 555 children refused polio vaccine for their children, while 1,720 children were not available for vaccination.

According to the official data, parents of some 497 from Nowshera, 381 from Lakki Marwat, 307 from Swabi, 289 from Bannu, 136 from Mardan and 42 each from Mansehra and Tank also refused polio vaccine.

Poliovirus cases have dropped sharply from 306 in 2014 to only five in 2017. Only one case each was confirmed from K-P, Sindh, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Baluchistan in 2017.

On the other hand, not even a single case surfaced from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) for over a year.