Propaganda makes parents refuse vaccinations

Correlation of vaccination with Nawabshah deaths instills fear into parents

The last polio campaign by SNID of the 2017-18 low transmission season commences from Monday, May 7 in 109 districts and agencies of the country in  synchronisation with Afghanistan but the recent refusal of vaccinations from parents due to an ongoing negative campaign has become a pressing challenge for the officials.

Up to 50,000 people refused the vaccinations at the start of the campaign. This number doubled in March and April due to a fake video linking the recent deaths of children in Nawabshah with vaccination. The circulation of the campaign on conventional media and social media has severely hampered the progress of the anti-polio drives. Almost 50% of the people refusing were eventually persuaded into taking the vaccine with the help of social mobilisers, doctors and religious leaders.



“We are witnessing an organised negative campaign before every scheduled polio vaccination campaign,” said Emergency Operation Centre National Coordinator Dr Rana Safdar. He added that unfortunately several young children die due to a variety of reasons, including respiratory infections, diarrhea and even measles. People with ill-intentions are deliberately correlating these tragic deaths with the on-going polio campaigns created confusion among the public. But our efforts are geared towards countering this phenomenon based on scientific evidence and by bringing truth on surface, he said.

A thorough strategy is in place to ensure the quality of all vaccines used in Pakistan both in routine and during campaigns starting from its manufacturing to its end use. People have been especially requested to disregard the negative propaganda against vaccination being propagated by a few groups with ill-intentions. Furthermore it is also encouraged that queries if any be conveyed to respective Emergency Operations Centres, provincial health departments, district polio control rooms in DC offices, DHOs as well as the district EPI offices.

The national leadership has urged all parents to ensure the vaccination of their own children as well as those around them to finally wipe the virus off our nation. It has been reiterated that the Oral Polio Vaccine is the safest and most effective tool available today to achieve eradication as majority of countries have already done.

During the campaign a total of around 23.8 million under five children will be vaccinated including 7.8m in Punjab (12 districts), 8.17m in Sindh, 4.46m in K-P, 1.98m in Balochistan  1.04m in FATA and 0.333m in Islamabad.

A total of 161,000 personnel will strive to achieve set targets across Pakistan including 16,673 Area Incharges, 4,561 UC Medical Officers, 122,432 Mobile, 5,728 Fixed and 8,044 Transit team members. All security agencies will be fully supporting to ensure safe work environment for Polio teams across the country.

Pakistan is the closest is has ever been to stop the virus transmission. Cases have declined from 306 in 2014 to 54 in 2015 to 20 in 2016 and 8 in 2017. In 2018, only one polio case has so far been reported from district Dukki, Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2018.