Refusal by parents to get oral polio vaccine (OPV) administered to their children has been hampering global polio eradication efforts as 149 of total 166 polio-affected children recorded in 2014 so far are those who have not received polio drops, according to data.
Pakistan has so far recorded 166 countrywide cases this year against 93 in 2013, mainly due to consistent trend among parents refusing to get OPV administered to their children on the basis of various misconceptions held by families, according to relevant officials.
A total of 119 cases have been registered so far in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) where issues of security and Taliban’s ban on immunization in North and South Waziristan agencies and inaccessibility of health workers to the target children remain the main areas of concerns.
The authorities aren’t able to record refusals in Fata, but the trend coming from the rest of the country regarding refusals is alarming and indications are that refusals will continue to haunt Pakistan’s anti-polio drive in future. Even outside Fata, which has often been blamed for blocking polio vaccination efforts, of the remaining 47 cases, 31 affected children were not administered OPV and regarded as cases of chronic refusals, they said.
