Parental Resistance Hampers Pakistan's Polio Eradication Efforts

Pakistan's battle against polio has encountered a setback with a significant number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children during a recent national anti-polio campaign. Reports indicate that over 63,000 parents across the country declined to administer polio drops to their children, with the highest refusal rates recorded in Sindh province.

During the campaign, 38,749 parents in Sindh, 20,392 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and 4,081 in Balochistan opted not to vaccinate their children. Additionally, 175 parents in Punjab, 75 in Islamabad, and 24 in Azad Kashmir also chose to withhold the polio drops.

The national anti-polio campaign, which ran from February 26 to March 15, aimed to immunize children nationwide. However, the Ministry of Health revealed a concerning development as the polio virus was detected in environmental samples from eight cities. Among the samples, 12 sewage samples tested positive for the virus, including one case of wild polio virus and three YBA cluster cases.

The resurgence of parental resistance to polio vaccination poses a significant challenge to Pakistan's efforts to eradicate the disease. With the detection of the polio virus in multiple cities, urgent measures are needed to address the gaps in vaccination coverage and ensure the protection of children against this debilitating disease.