RAWALPINDI: Amid increasing number of refusal cases in the city and cantonment areas, the District Health Authority managed to vaccinate 275,000 children against polio in two days campaign.

This information was shared by health department officials at a meeting held at the deputy commissioner office on Tuesday to review the campaign.

The officials informed the meeting that two refusal cases were reported in Jhanda Chichi near the district courts forcing Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Randhawa to reach the spot and convince the parents that vaccination was safe for children’s health.

730,000 children were to be administered anti-polio drops

During the visit to Jhanda Chichi in the cantonment areas, the two families refused administration of anti-polio vaccine to their four-year-old child, fearing it was not safe for their children.

The deputy commissioner also conducted a surprise visit to other areas of the city and reviewed performance of vaccinators.

There were reports that new vaccinators teams failed to understand the working as a result of which targets could not be achieved.

However, Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Randhawa expressed satisfaction over the performance of the teams in the two days campaign.

He asked the local prayer leaders to reach out to families who were resisting the vaccination.

An official of the health authority told Dawn that the target of anti-polio drive was 730,000 children in the district in two days, but 1,300 teams managed to cover only 30pc children.

The official said the vaccinators faced problems as there was no political leadership in the city and cantonment to help the district administration in dealing with the refusal cases. He said the police had been provided to the vaccinators only in sensitive areas.

He said vaccination to under-10 children created problem for vaccinators in some areas.

The health department official said in cantonment areas the refusal cases were less thanks to a Jirga held by the district administration to convince them not to resist vaccination.

“In the past, a locality near Westridge-III refused to allow the vaccinators to administer vaccine to its children,” he said.

The meeting asked the teams to cover all children as schools were closed and mostly children would be available at their houses.

The deputy commissioner said there was a need to convince the people to allow administration of anti-polio drops to their children to save them from the crippling disease.

He said the political and religious leaders had also been requested to create awareness among the people about the anti-polio vaccination.

He said the vaccinators had to work hard to achieve the target.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2019