Thousands deprived of polio vaccination in K-P due to officials' negligence

Focal person on polio eradication says Peshawar alone saw 9,000 cases of vaccination refusals

PESHAWAR: At least 23,000 children in Peshawar have missed polio drops in the latest campaign held in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa due to the negligence of more than a dozen polio eradication officers.

This startling revelation was made by Babar Bin Atta, a focal person on polio eradication to PM Imran Khan, on his Twitter account.

23,000 children only in Peshawar missed vaccination during Nov campaign due to low performance of some staff. This number is enough for virus to survive in any city. Strict action against 14 staffers helped identify these missed children. Such actions will be taken in the future.

— Babar Atta (@babarbinatta) November 23, 2018

In another tweet, Babar highlighted that Peshawar alone had seen 9,000 cases of refusals from getting vaccinated against polio, with tailor-made strategies being devised to better convince parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.

9000 refusals only in Peshawar. Have decided to come up with tailormade strategies for UCs and Areas (Mohallas). Monday we start dissecting Peshawar UCs to find whats wrong and where we need to improve communication strategies to convince parents. https://t.co/OxSLGPrVAM

— Babar Atta (@babarbinatta) November 23, 2018

The polio campaign was held in K-P from November 12 to 15, to vaccinate children in the province against the deadly disease.