PESHAWAR, April 20: The World Health Organisation has brushed aside rumours that oral polio vaccine causes impotency or infertility and called upon the media to help do away with anti-vaccine campaigns in the province.

“Oral polio vaccines (OPVs) are safe and none of the anti-fertility agents, such as oestrogen and progesterone, is included in it at any stage of its manufacturing process nor is any such agent present in the final product,” said Dr Khalid Nawaz, senior surveillance officer of the WHO’s Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) for the NWFP and Fata.

Speaking at a media awareness workshop, jointly organised by the WHO, Unicef and health department here on Friday, he said polio had affected 350,000 children annually since 1988 in 125 countries.

“Only 1,862 cases were reported from four countries in 2006. Due to the global vaccination campaign, five million children have been saved from the crippling disease over the last 18 years,” he pointed out.

Dr Sarfaraz Khan Afridi of the WHO was of the view that rumours about the drops had caused immense damage in Nigeria and India.

Pakistan had recorded 25,000 cases of polio in 1994, 558 in 1999, 28 in 2005, 40 in 2006 and seven so far this year. He said the drops were procured by Unicef and met the specifications set by the International Expert Committee on Biological Standardisation (ECBS).

He said over the last 18 years, more than 10 billion doses of polio vaccines had been administered to over one billion children globally, adding: “No side-effects have been reported during this period.”

The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) deputy director said vaccinators were facing security problems and inaccessibility in some areas. He said that refusal by parents

to vaccinate their children on religious grounds was not justified.

Antonia Paradela, chief of Advocacy and Communication Unicef in Pakistan, urged the media to do accurate reporting about child rights. “Omitting relevant facts from stories of major issues of public interest inevitably mislead the readers,” she said.

Director-general health Dr Jalilur Rehman said that parents of only 0.24 per cent immunisable children had refused vaccinating their children. He said that there was an urgent need to establish a liaison between the media and health department to ensure that people get their offspring vaccinated.

Dr Salah of the WHO said the polio campaign had been in progress for 18 years and children who had received OPVs in their childhood were normal people today.

Later, a joint declaration was issued by the health department and media persons, stating that the OPV was safe for the protection of children against polio.