WANA, Nov 18: Health authorities in Wana, the headquarters of the South Waziristan Agency, claim to have vaccinated children against polio in some of the areas which they say were considered inaccessible in the past.

They said they had vaccinated all children below the age of five in Zadrana, Spin, Tanai, Azam Warsak, Gurgurai and Shodia Kai union councils during an anti-measles campaign.

According to them, it was difficult for vaccinators to administer anti-polio drops to children because of the resistance from local clerics.

Health officials said that they had held meeting with Maulvi Bilal, a local Taliban commander in Makin area, and convinced him that anti-polio drops were meant to save children from disability.

Maulvi Bilal, they said, had allowed the health workers to carry out their activities. They said that all the refusal cases from the previous anti-polio effort in the agency had been covered.They said that now routine immunisation for the seven vaccine-preventable diseases had also been started there.

Public response to the measles campaign was more than expectation, they said. They said the only problem they faced was the vaccination of girls aging between 10 and 13 years because of the shortage of female health workers in the campaign.