MUZAFFARGARH, Dec 7: Parents did not allow vaccinators to administer polio drops to 126 children during a recent anti-polio campaign because they considered the step un-Islamic, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official told Dawn.

These children could not be vaccinated against polio in various localities of Alipur, Kot Addu and Jatoi tehsils because their parents, some of them religious leaders, thought the vaccinators were working against the Islamic laws, WHO official Robina Aziz Jatoi told this correspondent.

At least 28 polio cases have been confirmed in Punjab this year so far.

Ms Jatoi said she had sent a report in this regard to the authorities so that action could be taken against those refusing the vaccination. She said she had sent the report to the authorities with the names of people refusing vaccination and their home address.

Sources say some religious men told vaccinators they were “working against the values of Islam”.

Religious leader Ghulam Mustafa from Khairpur Sadat said he did not allow polio teams to vaccinate the children in his locality because it was against Islam. “I will not let them administer something haram to my children. Our forefathers were never vaccinated, but they all were healthy.”

He said he did not allow vaccinators to vaccinate his children, but they were healthy. He said other countries sent their teams in Pakistan to stop Muslims’ reproduction.

A Health Department official said religious leaders in charge of mosques were spreading hatred against the vaccination. He said all 126 refusals came from rural areas where people did not know about family planning and vaccination because of a lack of education.

Ms Jatoi said about 26 children were not vaccinated in Ambreen village of Kharak Union Council and their parents threatened the vaccinators and forced them out of the village.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz representative Mian Mohammad Hussain said he would ask the chief minister to start a programme for the education of rural population about family planning.