PESHAWAR, May 11: Polio continues to threaten children in the NWFP because of the inefficacy of vaccines, officials said. “Out of the eight polio cases detected last year in the NWFP and Fata, five children had been given polio drops. The only case reported this year in January had been administered six doses of the anti-polio drops,” they said.

Nine-month-old Bilal Khan, son of Mohammad Khan, was diagnosed positive for polio despite having been vaccinated..

Officials said efficacy of polio vaccines had become questionable. Last year, two children, one from Khyber Agency and another from Dera Ismail Khan, had been administered 10 doses of vaccines. However, the disease attacked them, officials said.

The child diagnosed as positive might have had diarrhoea when he was administered anti-polio drops, officials said. Often drops remained ineffective when recipients were either malnourished or suffering from low-immunity, they said.

A paediatrician told Dawn that children suffering from low-immunity, malnutrition or diarrhoea should either be treated before administering the vaccines to them or be placed in the category of high risk group to be handled by special polio vaccinators.