Polio: another blow

Published December 18, 2018

IT was supposed to be polio’s final stand. Anti-polio campaigners were optimistic that this winter’s drive — the final door-to-door anti-polio vaccination campaign of the year — would also be the last in eradicating the virus from Pakistan once and for all. The prime minister restated his commitment to a polio-free Pakistan in a meeting on Nov 9 with provincial chief ministers, chief secretaries and members of the military in attendance. Starting from Dec 10, the countrywide campaign kicked off with the aim of administering drops to 38.72m children under the age of five — 19.2m in Punjab, 8.9m in Sindh, 6.8m in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2.53m in Balochistan, 0.347m in Islamabad, 0.237m in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 0.7m in Azad Kashmir. The campaign was in coordination with Afghanistan to ensure children on the move between the borders were also administered drops.

But then came the news of the death of an infant in Haripur. She had been given polio drops on Nov 30. According to an inquiry report, she died of pneumonia on Dec 2, but a social media campaign blaming polio vaccines for the child’s demise had already taken off. Owing to the widely shared propaganda, there has now been a reported 25pc increase in vaccine refusals in Islamabad alone. Shockingly, many of the refusals came from educated, middle-class households. Once again, efforts to eradicate polio have been hampered by sinister disinformation campaigns and the paranoia of uninformed minds. Not only does it risk the health and well-being of other children, it also points to another disturbing trend in our society (or perhaps all modern, technologically driven societies): the spread of fake news and disinformation. It is disheartening to note that despite all the progress made over the years, despite all the attempts at educating the public, and despite all the lives of polio workers and security personnel tragically lost in the state’s efforts to eradicate polio, we are still far from reaching the goal of a polio-free Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2018

Opinion

Editorial

Quetta bombing
Updated 10 Nov, 2024

Quetta bombing

THERE appears to be no end to the stream of violent incidents occurring in Balochistan, indicating a clear failure ...
Burdened courts
10 Nov, 2024

Burdened courts

ACCORDING to recent reports, the new chief justice has set about implementing a recently adopted plan for clearing...
Playing in Pakistan
10 Nov, 2024

Playing in Pakistan

MOHSIN Naqvi, Pakistan’s cricket chief, has shown a brave face. Now he has to be unrelenting and put the onus on...
Wake-up call
Updated 09 Nov, 2024

Wake-up call

Pakistan must heed UN's wake-up call and bring its laws and practices in line with its international human rights obligations.
Foreign banks’ exit
09 Nov, 2024

Foreign banks’ exit

WHY are foreign banks leaving Pakistan? In the last couple of decades, we have seen a number of global banking...
Kurram protest
09 Nov, 2024

Kurram protest

FED up with the state’s apathy towards their plight, the people of Kurram tribal district took to the streets on...