Polio drive ‘temporarily’ disrupted in Qambar-Shahdadkot’s village
A boy receives polio vaccine drops, during an anti-polio campaign, in a low-income neighborhood as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Karachi
The ongoing province-wide polio vaccination drive was temporarily disrupted in Kamber Ali Khan tehsil's Thorhi Bijar village in Qambar Shahdadkot district on Tuesday, when a man threatened polio workers, demanding that they stop administering the polio vaccine to children in the area. He further asked the polio workers to leave the area.
The matter was reportedly resolved later after apologies.
According to a volunteer participating in the immunisation drive and a resident of the village Faisal Khan, "The team from the village's basic healthcare unit (BHU) was carrying out the immunisation drive when Moulvi Hizbullah, who happens to be the prayer leader of the local mosque, began condemning the vaccination, calling it haram [forbidden in Islam]." He said that following that, the polio workers suspended the drive and left.
A paramedic from the area's BHU, who requested anonymity, further told The Express Tribune that Hizbullah had warned people against getting their children vaccinated for the crippling disease during the Friday sermon.
"He had repeatedly asked the villagers to not let polio workers administer the vaccine to their children," he said.
Later, the Qambar-Shahdadkot focal person for health, Dr Altaf, said the issued had been resolved as Hizbullah's relatives had tendered an apology on his behalf.
"The local residents have resolved the issue among themselves and I believe that such an incident will not take place again," he added. He further said that the immunisation campaign was disrupted only temporarily on a very limited scale as a result of the incident.
When contacted, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho's spokesperson said they had received a complaint of a man disrupting the drive in the village and had referred it to the relevant authorities, who would investigate into it.
Immunisation campaign
Meanwhile, the polio vaccination campaign continued unhindered in rest of the province for the second day. Polio teams went door to door to administer the anti-poliovirus vaccine to children under five years of age across Sindh.
According to the spokesperson for the Sindh Emergency Operation Centre for Polio, the on-going campaign was launched on November 30, 2020 and will continue till December 6, 2020. A total of nine million children across Sindh will be administered the vaccine under this campaign he said, adding that over two million of these will be from Karachi.
The spokesperson maintained that all standard operating procedures (SOPs) as defined by the World Health Organisation to prevent the coronavirus will be followed by polio health workers during the campaign. These SOPs include wearing masks, checking temperature before beginning the campaign, avoid touching children directly, avoid entering houses and knocking at gates using their elbows or a pen.
The provincial health minister has appealed to all parents to ensure that every child under their care who is under five years of age gets vaccinated and is saved from life-long paralysis, said the spokesperson.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2020.