PESHAWAR: Approximately 13,044 children have not been administered polio vaccinations due to their parents’ refusal as authorities struggle to convince them.
Officials claim that more than 99 per cent of the targeted children have been vaccinated and 0.29 per cent have not due to their parents’ refusal or their nonavailability. 34,176 children were unavailable at their homes while another 47,200 could not be vaccinated for miscellaneous reasons. The last polio vaccination campaign was carried out this month in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
According to officials, the last campaign achieved a success rate of 99.25 per cent with 4.432 million of the 4.466 million children successfully administered the vaccination.
A statement released by the KP Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) admits that approximately 1 per cent of the children were not administered the polio vaccination.
EOC coordinator Atif Rehman lauded the efforts of the polio vaccination teams, explaining that no new case of polio has been observed in Peshawar since 2016. He urged parents who refused to vaccinate their children to avoid giving into conspiracy theories regarding the vaccines and explained that the vaccinations are certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Pakistan Drug Regulatory Authority for their safety.
The campaign for May, 2018 was significantly important in stopping circulation of the virus because of the low transmission season.
Only one polio case has been confirmed in the country in the year, compared to eight in 2017.