PESHAWAR, Oct 19: Health authorities have claimed success in polio-eradication drives with more than 50 per cent families in Peshawar district who previously refused vaccinations for various reasons.

Around 730,000 children, including 60,000 Afghan refugees, received vaccinations in Peshawar district during the campaign that began in October.

They said that in August about 4,000 people had refused vaccines in the city. The figure had now been reduced to 1,930 in the last campaign.

The areas included in the drive were Chamkani, Jhagra, Tarnab, Nishtarabad, Sikandarpura, Haji Camp, Peshawar City, University town, Palosai, Warsak, Pishtakhara, Hayatabad and areas adjoining Kohat and Charsadda Road in the Peshawar district.

In these areas, people had refused to vaccinate children against polio due to misconceptions regarding the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

“Unfounded rumours about OPV that the recipients become impotent and infertile was one of the major causes behind previous refusals,” an official with the WHO said.

According to him, the mass community mobilisation teams of the WHO and the district health authorities played a vital role.

“They just needed to be convinced and given facts about the OPV,” he added.

District and health authorities were planning to use the mass community mobilisation teams to engage with families before the start of the upcoming nationwide campaign at the end of the month.

The WHO and all other concerned health authorities were making efforts aimed at bringing down the figure to zero, he said.