KOHAT: Over 11,000 more cases of polio vaccination refusal were reported in Kohat district on Wednesday.

Head of the vaccination campaign Dr Mohabat Khan told Dawn that 6,900 residents of Kohat turned the vaccinators away on Tuesday and over 11,000 on Wednesday leaving their children unvaccinated against polio.

He said the vaccination refusal cases in two days totaled more than 17,900.

Dr Mohabat said 65 percent of Afghan nationals living in refugee camps declined vaccination of their children.

He said the campaign was extended to four days on Wednesday to ensure achieve targets by reaching out to the people to convince that polio vaccine is safe and therefore, it should be administered to their children.

Dr Mohabat said an emergency meeting called by deputy commissioner Matiullah Khan had decided that all union council nazims and councillors, village and neighbourhood nazims, teachers and health employees would visit the houses with unvaccinated children and hold jirgas in mosques and hujras to advocate vaccination.

District administrations convince people about vaccine’s safety

He said only 75 percent targeted children had been vaccinated against polio.

Haji Safeer Ahmad, who handles the campaign in the Kohat cantonment area, said not a single vaccination refusal case was reported in his area supervised by him.

He said anti-polio drops were administered to children in all schools.

In Haripur, the district administration sent its senior officials to different areas, especially refugee camps, for convincing residents about the children’s vaccination.

Additional deputy commissioner Ubaidullah Shah visited Afghan Camp No 12 and 15 and held vaccination advocacy sessions.

He declared the reports about adverse reaction to polio vaccination baseless and said the vaccine was safe.

The official later told reporters that he was hopeful that the vaccination targets would be achieved in the district.

Also in the day, the security of polio teams was beefed up.

In Landi Kotal and Jamrud area, the elders announced support for anti-polio vaccination campaign and said they would thwart bids to disrupt the drive.

The assistant commissioners held separate meetings with elders, officials of the health department and policemen tasked with protecting vaccinators.

The elders said they would convince people for their children’s vaccination.

In Lakki Marwat, the district administration successfully convinced many parents to allow the administration of anti-polio drops to their children.

Those parents from Tajazai union council had turned away vaccinators over the reports of the alleged reaction to anti-polio vaccine.

Deputy commissioner Jehangir Azam Wazir went to the area along with officials of the health department and partner organisations, met elders, councillors and parents, and convinced them about the safety of vaccination.

The deputy commissioner himself took two drops of vaccine in front of them and administered them along with Vitamin A drops to around three dozen children.

Some of those children hadn’t been vaccinated for the last one year.

The deputy commissioner asked parents no to trust propaganda against vaccination and cooperate with anti-polio teams.

Meanwhile, deputy commissioner of Lower Chitral Khurshid Alam Mehsud said that no polio vaccination refusal or resistance was reported in the region.

He told Dawn that the vaccination campaign was continuing across Upper and Lower Chitral districts smoothly.

He said some ‘bickering’ over vaccination was reported in some parts of Chitral town but the area monitors went them and persuaded people for the administration of polio drops to their children.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2019