KARACHI: Murad Ali Shah, chief minister of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, on Monday said that polio vaccine hesitancy and refusals were major challenges in Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate polio, amid a deepening polio crisis in the South Asian country.
The Sindh chief minister said this while launching an anti-polio eradication campaign at SMB Fatima Jinnah School in Karachi’s Garden West area as part of a nationwide drive to vaccinate more than 45 million children.
In the week-long campaign from October 28 till November 3, 10.6 million children under the age of five years will be inoculated across 30 districts of Sindh to protect them against the debilitating disease, according to Shah.
“Vaccine hesitancy and refusals present significant obstacles to polio eradication initiatives in Pakistan,” the Sindh CM was quoted as saying by his office.
“In Sindh, particularly in the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad, a considerable number of parents are reluctant to permit their children to receive the oral polio vaccine (OPV).”
Pakistan has reported a total of 41 polio cases so far this year, of which 12 have been reported in Sindh, according to authorities.
Shah said the challenge was particularly severe in Karachi, which accounted for 85 percent of all refusals documented in Sindh. He said his government had begun the deployment of support teams, and engagement of parliamentarians and local committees to support the polio eradication efforts.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains an endemic. Since late 2018, Pakistan has seen a resurgence of cases and increased spread of poliovirus, highlighting the fragility of gains achieved in the preceding three years.
The presence of polio-positive environmental samples in various parts of Sindh indicates active virus circulation, according to the chief minister.
“To meet this challenge, 81,000 frontline workers will be mobilized to go door-to-door, ensuring that every eligible child receives the life-saving vaccine,” Shah said.
