K-P witnesses decline in polio campaign resistance

Number of families refusing drops to their children comes down by 35 per cent

PESHAWAR:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has recorded a significant decline in resistance to anti-polio drops administered to children last month.

According to a report issued by the Emergency Operations Centre, the number of families refusing drops had come down by around 35 per cent during the vaccination carried out in the month of June.

The development comes as the country’s anti-polio campaign has been largely hobbled by resistance from parents to having their children vaccinated against the disease. Last year, all 20 polio cases recorded in the country had been reported from K-P.

The centre said that a drop of 25 per cent was recorded among children left deprived of the anti-polio drops in the province.

The centre further said that in 2016 for the first time, the anti-polio campaign received the strong support of ulema when several families were reluctant to administer anti-polio drops to their children because of the negative propaganda against the vaccination.

It said that ulema support highly helped in the success of the anti-polio vaccination. It said that even in some cases the refusing parents were now administering anti-polio shots to their children.

Meanwhile, Maulana Raees Khan of Darul Uloom Hayatabad has said that earlier some people were refusing anti-polio drops to their children only due to misperceptions. However, he said, “when we persuaded them” they were now administering anti-polio drops to their children.

Last month, the province introduced a linkage of civic services to polio vaccination certificates to boost vaccination rates. The efforts were initiated to tie the provision of civic services to the possession of a polio vaccination certificate, aiming to increase the vaccination ratio in the region.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that mainly affects children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the only effective way to protect our children from the crippling disease.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2023.