PESHAWAR: Healthcare workers in Pakistan’s Peshawar continue their vaccination campaign on Wednesday despite an attack on Monday which saw gunmen kill two police officers protecting polio vaccination workers.
Gunmen in northwest Pakistan’s Bajaur district killed two police officers protecting polio vaccination workers on Monday, the first day of a nationwide campaign to counter rising cases.
Pakistan is one of two countries, along with Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, but militants have killed hundreds of police officers and health workers over the past decade as part of a campaign against the Pakistani state.
“When we hear that a polio worker has been attacked in an area, we feel scared,” health care worker Shash Begum told AFP. “We try not to lose courage. We want every child to receive polio drops and be protected from disability.”
Naheed Akhtar, a mother and health care worker, said she has administered polio drops to her three children and ensured their vaccinations were completed.
“I request every parent to protect their children from lifelong disability,” she said.
Sajid Khan, a police officer admitted protecting polio workers amid surging attacks was a “very difficult job.”
“Our effort is to ensure that every child receives polio drops and remains safe,” he said. “Even if our lives are at risk, we continue to serve, and we wear this uniform for them.”
Polio, a highly infectious virus mainly affecting children under five, can result in lifelong paralysis but is easily prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of a vaccine.
There is a raft of misinformation circulating about the vaccine in rural Pakistan, including that it is a CIA plot to stop Muslims from having children.
