Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said on Sunday that his ministry had issued guidelines for the prevention of the polio virus across the country but emphasised that that eradication of the virus from environment was the responsibility of authorities working at grassroots levels.
Talking to media persons after chairing a meeting with the officials of anti-polio in Karachi, Kamal stated that the new phase of anti-polio campaign would commence from April 21. He urged the parents to get their children immunised against the polio virus for the healthy and better future of their children.
Kamal revealed that there were 44,000 polio vaccine refusal cases in the country, out of which 34,000 were in Karachi, including 27,000 in the city's East District alone. "Out of them, 15,000 refusals were reported from Urdu-speaking parents and 10,000 from Pashto speaking families in the city," he said.
Refuting the perception of polio vaccination's side or negative effects as rumours, he said that the anti-polio vaccination was totally safe and the parents should get their children vaccinated. He added that the vaccination was purchased by Unicef and it handed over by them to the government.
The new anti-polio vaccine was announced, as officials said that environmental surveillance detected wild poliovirus in sewage samples from 20 districts of the country, though the data suggested a decline in overall virus circulation.
According to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), 60 samples were collected from 51 districts. Of these, 25 tested positive for wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), while 35 others showed no presence of the virus.
The samples that confirmed the presence of WPV1 came from Dukki, Kech, Khuzdar, Lasbela, Loralai, Nasirabad, Pishin, Quetta, Usta Muhammad, Bannu, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Peshawar, South Waziristan Lower, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Multan, and Rahim Yar Khan districts.
Samples from Islamabad, Gilgit, Rawalpindi, Swat, Sahiwal, Nowshera, and others districts tested negative, pointing to improved control measures in several areas. "The trend shows a decline in positive samples and a reduction in virus circulation in many areas," an NIH official said.
Pakistan has reported only six polio cases so far in 2025, down from 74 in 2024. Officials credit improved immunisation drives since September last year. "Repeated vaccination strengthens immunity and helps stop the spread," the official added.
(WITH INPUTS FROM APP)
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