PESHAWAR, April 5: With the help of ulema and prayer leaders the health staff successfully convinced refusing parents to administer vaccine to about 300 children, who were earlier on the refusal list.
“Supported by ulema and prayer leaders the departments concerned succeeded to resolve about 300 polio refusal cases during the last month's campaign,” said Maulana Jehanzeb Zahid at a press conference here on Tuesday.Flanked by a group of religious scholars, Maulana Zahid asked people to administer polio vaccines to their children to save them from the crippling disease.
The areas where the refusal cases were resolved include Badbher, Pakha Ghulam, Rashid Garhi, Pahari Pura, Lala Kalay, Tarnab Farm and Maryamzai, all suburban areas of Peshawar.
He said that the National Research and Development Foundation had carried out parents' awareness campaign in different parts of the province to ensure vaccination of all the children below five. He said that clerics from different schools of thought backed the vaccination drive.
He said that the ulema had focused on the Federally Administered Tribal Areas where polio cases were on the rise due to different reasons. He said that tribal people had also backed the vaccination campaign.
Praising the role of prayer leaders and religious people, Maulana Zahid said that in their Friday sermons they used to highlight the importance of polio vaccine and remove misperceptions from the people's minds.
About the three-day National Polio Eradication drive, Dr Syed Irfan, a representative of Unicef, said that children would be immunised in seven risk districts of the province.
Dr Irfan Ali of NRDF also urged ulema in different areas of the province to play their role to remove misperceptions about polio vaccine and ensure that refusing parents were convinced on the benefits of anti-polio vaccine.
Mualana Hussain Ahmad also spoke on the occasion.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.