
In the end the year 2017 mirrored the polio statistics collated for the year 2016 when eight separate polio cases were reported. To understand the hard-won progress made in stemming the threat, we need to look over the figures in the preceding years. For instance, the polio threat, if anything, has diminished over the years from 30 in 2014 to 12 in 2015. The one common and recognisable problem is the collective failure of parents to understand the importance of immunisation. It has been proven that even a couple of missed polio drops can prove fatal for children. Such neglect can bring lifetime disability to children — much to the despair of their parents. The realisation comes much too late. For others, tragedy strikes because of a particular mindset or belief that vaccination will do greater harm in the long run. If the battle against polio is to be successful in the future, the authorities will have to devise a more potent instrument to check vaccination refusals and achieve 100 per cent immunisation in each anti-polio initiative undertaken by the state. Until then we cannot eradicate polio from the country or even the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2018.
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