A polio vaccination team on Monday came under attack in the country’s restive northwest when a person opened fire on the health workers, refusing to let his children be immunised against the crippling disease.
Bacha Zada opened fire on the health workers when they arrived at his home to vaccinate his children in Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.
An FIR has been lodged against Zada and he has been arrested, said Rahimabad Police Station SHO Hanif Khan.
Khan said no loss of life was reported in the incident.
Deputy Commissioner Mehmood Aslam said fool-proof security arrangements have been made for polio teams in Swat, and added that the four-day anti-polio campaign would continue.
Pakistan is one of the only three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where the crippling disease remains endemic.
Islamist hardliners consider anti-polio vaccines a Western conspiracy to sterilise Muslims. Scores of health workers in Pakistan have been killed in the last two years as a result.
In the province’s Nowshera district, the anti-polio campaign faced hurdle as more than 300 parents refused to immunise their children against the virus.
The district administration has warned of strict action against those refusing to immunise their children.
The first anti-polio campaign named ‘Unite for Health’ – a joint programme of the federal and provincial governments — was launched in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and FATA.
A target to vaccinate 5.37 million children has been set for Khyber Pakthunkhwa for which 16,823 teams have been formed, officials said.
In FATA, about 695,000 children under the age of five would be administered anti-polio drops during the campaign.
According to EPI officials, four polio cases were reported from KP this year: one each from Peshawar, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Nowshera.
In 2014, Pakistan reported 305 polio cases.
