PESHAWAR: The number of children remaining unvaccinated due to parental refusal has come down in the recent immunisation drive compared to the previous campaign, data shows.
The five-day vaccination effort in May conducted by Emergency Operation Centre, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, recorded 17,136 children without getting oral polio vaccine (OPV), mostly due to parents’ reluctance due to misconception that the drops were not allowed in Islam or on the pretext that those were designed by western countries to render the recipients infertile and impotent and reduce the population of Muslims.
The first argument has been vehemently rejected by edicts issued by Islamic scholars from reputed universities and religious schools. The second plea advanced for non-vaccination has been rejected by laboratory scientists, saying these drops are safe and have played instrumental role in eradicating the crippling ailment worldwide.
However, the recently-concluded vaccination drive last week, shows that the number of refusals against polio drops has dwindled to 14,712, which the authorities attribute to the hard work of frontline vaccinators with strong backing of district administrations and district health officers.
Only 17,136 children remained unvaccinated in previous campaign
In May, the tally of children staying unvaccinated due to their non-availability during door-to-door visits by health workers was 64,328, which rose by less than 1,000.
Peshawar as usual remained atop of list of refusal cases by recording 5,977 unvaccinated children in September down from 6,812 recorded in May while Lakki Marwat occupied second spot with 2,128 refusal cases compared to 2,382 recorded by the district in September.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has detected 18 polio cases, the highest number recorded by any province in Pakistan this year so far. The total number of polio cases registered in the country in the ongoing year in 27.
The disease has crippled seven children in Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four cases have been recorded in Lakki Marwat, Tank and North Waziristan each, three in Bannu, and one each in Torghar, Kohistan Lower and Dera Ismail Khan.
The disease is mostly prevalent in violence-stricken southern districts of the province where the number of refusals and non-available children is more than the rest of the province.
Except Peshawar, the situation in central districts and Malakand is not worrisome as the vaccinators do not have problems in reaching the target population but the southern belt is fraught with issues that have been hampering the smooth-sailing of the drive, making the dream of polio-eradication more difficult.
Officials at EOC say that Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, in his capacity as chairman of Task Force on Polio, is aware of the issues in southern districts and has been holding meetings with district administrations and issuing instructions to them before every drive to ensure that all children below five years receive anti-polio drops in every effort.
The last drive was conducted peacefully as no case of violence was reported but the problem of unvaccinated children remained the major task, they said.
“Our workers are reaching more than 99 per cent target children but less than one percent of children stay unvaccinated due to refusals or non-availability during the campaign. For getting polio eradication certificate, we need to ensure that all children are inoculated in every campaign for three consecutive years,” said officials.
They said that in every campaign, they missed very few children due to which eradication of the crippling disease was not possible.
There are known people, who are opposed to vaccination and they have been denying polio vaccination for years on flimsy grounds.
This vicious cycle continues to thwart the eradication efforts as well as loss of lives of policemen and health workers, who are killed by unidentified armed men during anti-polio campaigns in the province.
Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2025
