85pc of polio vaccination refusals are in Karachi: Health Minister Mustafa Kamal

Federal Minister for Health Mustafa Kamal on Sunday said that of the families refusing to immunise their children against poliovirus, 85 per cent of them reside in Karachi alone.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

Earlier on Sunday, Dawn.com 60 environmental samples collected from 51 districts were tested for poliovirus by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health. Samples from 20 districts were found positive for poliovirus.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the heath minister said that currently, 44,000 families in the country have refused to vaccinate their children against polio.

“At this moment, in Pakistan, there are 44,000 refusals, with 34,000 in Karachi alone,” he lamented. “That is a figure of 85-90pc.”

“Of those 34,000 families refusing to vaccinate their children, 27,000 hail from District East,” he added.

Kamal said that he met with five MPAs and two MNAs from District East, with the aim of understanding the vaccination system in Karachi and across the country and how to make future campaigns “100pc successful”.

“I want to tell everyone in Pakistan that polio exists in Karachi, but the reason why people are not being affected is because of prevention,” he emphasised. “Since the virus is everywhere, if children aren’t vaccinated for whatever reason and contract the virus, they will grow up physically disabled.

“People from the left and the right will tell you ‘Don’t give them the drops’, but I am here to tell you that not including your children is criminal,” he maintained.

The health minister highlighted that there is a polio drive ongoing in neighbouring Afghanistan and lamented that Kabul has a more comprehensive immunisation programme than Islamabad.

“This is the first time that a simultaneous polio vaccination campaign is happening in both Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said. “The Taliban are sending teams door-to-door to vaccinate children — their programme is more comprehensive than ours.

“Afghanistan is vaccinating children and they will eradicate the virus within a few years. God forbid we remain the only country in the world with polio. Please ignore any propaganda and administer polio drops to your children.”

The minister announced that 415,000 polio workers will participate in a nationwide polio vaccination drive on April 21 and urged citizens to cooperate with workers administering the vaccines.

“Please respect them and do not disturb them, they are trying to protect your children’s future,” he urged.

Responding to a question from a reporter, Kamal said that the government has “multiple avenues” to act against families who refuse to immunise their children but would refrain from using them.

“We have the option of legal action, but I do not want to use it,” he answered. “We want to alleviate peoples’ concerns and not use hard force to immunise children. We aim to replace government personnel and instead convince people to vaccinate their children through cultural influence.”

Polio is a paralysing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential to provide children with high immunity against this terrible disease.