Polio – the fight for reason

The struggle to eradicate polio from Pakistan ebbs and flows. The goal is always close but just as it seems that one final push will take the nation over the line to be polio-free another rock appears in the road.

The latest rock is in the form of a demonstration by the residents of Shaheen Muslim Town in Peshawar who are protesting at the deaths of two and possibly three children recently, and they claim the deaths are linked to polio vaccine. They say that they will not allow vaccination teams into the area and are demanding the registration of an FIR against the district health officer for failing to make public an enquiry report.

An examination of the back story to the residents’ protests reveals a picture that is far from simple. There are conflicting narratives with the administration saying that two of the children that died did so as the result of measles and gastroenteritis and that their symptoms were not consistent with a vaccine-related death. Such deaths do happen but they are rare and are often confused with an anaphylactic reaction to the vaccine rather than any fault in the vaccine itself. There has been at least one instance of death as an anaphylactic reaction in the last six weeks. One of the children said to have died as a result of vaccination had received no vaccination at all, for anything. The polio virus is virulent and has been found to be circulating in the area for the last five months.

If an inquiry shows that there are failings within the vaccination system and process then appropriate disciplinary action must be taken, but the administration needs to be more effectively proactive in countering a culture where conspiracy theories and ‘fake news’ spread like bushfires. Polio can be eradicated, ill-informed fears are rather more difficult.