BAHAWALNAGAR: The Bahawalpur region, including districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan, has been unable to achieve even half of the targets set for the 13-day campaign for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which officially ends on Saturday (today).

According to data given in a report of Special Branch, a copy available with Dawn, during the campaign from Sept 15 to Sept 27 in the region, the total target was 935,390, of which only 452,094 girls had been vaccinated so far, accounting for only 48pc of the target. However, it added that no district in Punjab could achieve its goal.

The vaccination targets for girl students in the three districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan were 299,043, 248,600 and 387,747, respectively. However, Bahawalpur achieved 52pc (156,586), Rahim Yar Khan 49pc (189,078) and Bahawalnagar achieved only 43pc (106,430) of its targets.

Propaganda and written consent

Intelligence sources told Dawn that the drive, which began on Sept 15 across Punjab, slowed down soon after its launch due to negative and misleading social media propaganda. Furthermore, the failure of the administration to debunk the false information available online despite intelligence agencies’ warning against it was also a contributing factor.

While requesting anonymity, some senior health and education officials said that prior to the campaign, the regional health administration was in contact with the education officials and parents were constantly informed about the benefits of this vaccination. They said that a large number of parents expressed their willingness to vaccinate their daughters before the drive was launched. However, the situation changed drastically a day before the vaccination drive started when the education department issued a letter.

Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan dists miss the targets by half

The letter required written consent of the parents and this became the primary reason for the drive’s failure, the health and education officials said. They added that the move created many ambiguities in people’s minds about vaccination, which were further fueled by negative social media propaganda by the uneducated or semi-educated social media users and influencers from conservative sections of society.

The Special Branch report, issued on Sept 26, also said the letter issued by the education department on Sept 14, a day before the drive, had caused severe anxiety among the parents and citizens. It went on to say that parents became averse to the HPV vaccine due to the lack of awareness sessions before the start of the campaign and the letter from the education department.

School admin’s lack of interest

The officials gave another reason for the HPV vaccination campaign’s failure that was the school administrations’ lack of interest in the drive, which led to the teachers not only failing to properly brief the students and their parents about the benefits of this HPV vaccine, but in some cases, misleading the parents about the vaccine.

Endorsing the officials’ views, Bahawalnagar CEO Health Dr Shaukat Ali told Dawn that during the aforementioned drive, schoolteachers demonstrated the lack of interest in vaccinating girl students He claimed that instead of guiding and motivating the parents and students and obtaining written permission, the teachers informed the health department in writing that the students and their parents were not interested in getting vaccinated. He stated that, while the health department continued to hold several awareness seminars, walks and other activities about the benefits of vaccination during the aforementioned drive, social media campaigns and a lack of cooperation from private and education officials prevented the health department from reaching even half of its target in the district Bahawalnagar.

Lack of security

Judging by people’s sentiments regarding vaccination, the Special Branch and other intelligence agencies had alerted the administration through their reports that vaccination teams should be sent along with police or social mobilisers to deal with any untoward situation. However, no security was provided to the health teams across the region, including Bahawalnagar, due to which vaccination teams had to face violence at several places.

The Special Branch report said that on Sept 18 and Sept 25, at two different locations in Bahawalnagar, the health teams that were not accompanied by any security were attacked by the parents and the people at the private school at Multani Chowk and at Govt Girls Elementary School, Hussain Colony, Chishtian. The report again suggested that the administration should send the health teams under strict protection and follow security protocols.

Regarding obtaining the remaining vaccination target, a senior DHA health official told Dawn that while the health department had not yet issued written instructions in this aspect; however, according to verbal instructions issued by the department, the vaccine should be delivered to various health centres at the district level, and girls, whose parents give permission, should be vaccinated there.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2025