Vaccine refusals

Polio vaccine refusals in Sindh rise sharply, worsening the province's polio crisis and threatening eradication effort

The recent surge in polio vaccine refusals in Sindh is alarming and demands immediate attention. With over 43,000 cases of vaccine refusals reported last month alone, the stakes have never been higher. These refusals come at a time when the province grapples with a polio crisis, marked by a staggering 66 per cent of environmental samples testing positive for the poliovirus this year. Meanwhile, Sindh has reported 13 of the 50 positive polio cases this year, compared to one each in Punjab and Islamabad, 11 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 24 in Balochistan. While K-P and Balochistan can blame lawlessness for contributing to lower vaccination rates and higher risk of infection, Sindh cannot use violence to deflect from its failure.

Pakistan already has to bear the embarrassment of being one of the few countries in the world that have not been able to eradicate polio. While Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has issued a warning to officials who slack off during anti-polio campaigns, whether or not poor performance has any real consequences remains to be seen. And even if errant health officials are taken to task, it will still not resolve the issue of vaccine refusal by parents, whose decisions are usually influenced by nonsense on social media and the internet, or by familiar conspiracy theorists.

But despite all of the government's recent cyberspace interventions, it seems it still cannot keep vaccine disinformation at bay or punish those responsible for amplifying disinformation. A comprehensive strategy is needed to address vaccine refusal, with updates to both the carrot and the stick on offer. Awareness must be coupled with some form of punitive measures, either against parents who refuse, or even community leaders, if the rate of refusal is unusually high. In fact, only 69 per cent of children under five are fully immunised in Sindh, reflecting the extent of the risk posed by polio.