ISLAMABAD: Four new cases of polio have been reported from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces.

The total number of cases, for the year 2019, has reached 41 as compared to 12 in 2018 and only eight in 2017.

According to a statement issued by the National Eme­rgency Operation Cen­tre (NEOC) on Monday, cases from Balochistan were rep­or­ted from Jaffarabad and Killa Abdullah districts. Both cases from KP were reported from Bannu district.

In all cases it was observed that the parents had refused to vaccinate their children.

An official of the Polio Virology Laboratory, requ­es­ting not to be quoted, said that from Bannu a 30-month-old boy and a 12-year-old were infected with the virus. In Balochistan, an eight-month-old boy from the Ganda­kha area of Jaffar­abad district and a nine-month-old boy from Janu Kahol in Killa Abdul­lah district became victim of the crippling disease, he said.

“In all four fresh reported polio cases, routine immunisation was zero and also predominant parental refusal was found to be common among the polio victims,” he said.

The statement said: “The identification of new cases is yet another reminder that as long as the poliovirus exists anywhere in the country, no child is safe from being infected.”

“Fortunately, children who are vaccinated against polio multiple times are able to fight the virus back. The more doses of the polio vaccine a child receives, the higher the chances of escaping lifelong paralysis,” the statement added.

It is pertinent to mention that during current year as many as 33 polio cases are reported from KP and its tribal districts, three cases from Punjab, three cases from Sindh and two cases have been reported from Balochistan.

According to the Emergency Operation Centre, of the 33 cases in KP province, 16 were reported from Bannu, six from North Waziristan and one from Lakki Marwat.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication, Babar Bin Atta said: “The next door-to-door polio vaccination campaign in selected districts will be in the month of July and August. He appealed to parents, religious leaders and other stakeholders to convince people to vaccinate their children, so that the virus has nowhere to go.”

EOC’s provincial coordinator Kamran Ahmed Afridi said that a campaign targeting high-risk areas in Bannu would begin from July 15 to 18. The drive would cover Mardan, Malakand and Hazara divisions as well, he added.

“We carried out an immunisation drive last month in Bannu but samples from the children who tested positive today had been taken before that, which shows the campaign was spot on,” he said.

In view of the outbreak in Bannu division, the coordinator said that they had recently merged all immunisation campaigns under the EOC to ensure smooth administrative and technical coordination for vaccination of the target population.

A string of vaccination activities had been planned to ensure safety of children against paralysis, he said. “Two back to back province-wide campaigns will take place in August and September in Bannu, Mardan, Malakand and Hazara divisions,” said Mr Afridi.

“Still, all vaccination efforts of the provincial government will not eliminate polio virus as long as there are suspicious parents who are misled by opponents of vaccines. Therefore, we appeal to the people that vaccination is the only way to do away with the ailment which causes disability,” he said.

Ashfaq Yusufzai from Peshawar and Saleem Shahid from Quetta also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2019