ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ambitious campaign to vaccinate girls against cervical cancer is facing serious setbacks, with less than 20 percent of girls aged 9–14 years have been immunised so far, despite global recognition of its importance, officials revealed on September 23.
Even in the federal capital, home to some of the country’s most educated citizens, the coverage rate has stalled at around 16 percent, reflecting deep-rooted misconceptions and negative propaganda surrounding the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
Senior epidemiologists, infectious disease experts and biological scientists say the failure lies in weak communication, “misuse” of funds earmarked for social and behavioral change campaigns, and the entrusting of critical advocacy to “inexperienced firms”.
Instead of building trust, the campaign relied on surface-level advertising while failing to address widespread myths and parental concerns.
They said the vaccination ratio remains below 20 percent. Shockingly, many vaccinators and their supervisors did not vaccinate their own daughters, further fueling public doubt.
Experts also faulted the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) and the provincial Expanded Programmes on Immunization (EPIs) of Sindh and Punjab for not properly informing communities about the vaccine being used.
“The HPV vaccine deployed in Pakistan is Innovax, developed by a leading Chinese biotechnology firm and prequalified by the World Health Organization, making it internationally recognized as safe and effective. Yet, officials failed to highlight these credentials with clarity, leaving space for conspiracy theories to dominate”, an official deplored.
He said nobody from the federal or provincial authorities brought in professional behavior change and crisis communication specialists to build trust before the rollout, and instead authorities engaged in damage control only after the backlash erupted.
Even the televised vaccination of his own daughter by Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal in Karachi, praised internationally as a bold gesture, was viewed locally by skeptical parents as a publicity stunt.
Prof. Faisal Mehmood, infectious disease expert at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), said anti-vaccine movements are a global phenomenon but mistrust in the government and healthcare system plays a particular role in Pakistan, amplified by social media.
“I don’t think this is country-specific. Anti-vaccine drives are common throughout the world and are multifactorial. But the general mistrust in the government and healthcare system plays an important role here, amplified by social media”.
“The HPV vaccine is a good example. When a company is launching a product there is marketing behind it with demand generation. This is what is needed in these planned campaigns. Unfortunately, public awareness only came after the rollout, so it feels like damage control. In polio campaigns they now do pre-campaign activities, which is good. But in HPV, we assumed people would listen logically to healthcare workers. Neither assumption is true,” he added.
A senior epidemiologist and former FDI official Dr. Rana Muhamamd Safdar said routine immunization is generally well accepted in Pakistan, but specific campaigns like polio and HPV are often derailed by conspiracy theories.
Prof. Shahana Urooj Kazmi, a renowned biological scientist and microbiologist who supervised PhDs on HPV and cervical cancer in Pakistan, said the entire exercise was a “mismanaged campaign” where no proper awareness sessions were organized to explain the seriousness of HPV infection in both males and females.
“You cannot just send orders to schools for vaccinating students. There should have been at least a month-long awareness campaign first,” Dr. Shahana Urooj Kazmi who is the President of Pakistan Society of Microbiology (PSM) said. She added that resistance was inevitable when an expensive vaccine was introduced abruptly without prior engagement and warned that bulldozing vaccination in all 9–14 year old girls would only fuel opposition.
Public health experts believe Pakistan must immediately rethink its HPV vaccination strategy and integrate social mobilization experts, community leaders and healthcare professionals into the process. Without building trust, they say, misinformation will continue to overshadow science and millions of young girls will remain vulnerable to a preventable cancer.
Published in The News on September 24, 2025.
