Islamabad :
The North Waziristan tribal district has once again become the focus of attention after two cases of polio came to light a week apart, with the main reason for these cases being the refusal of parents to vaccinate against polio.
According to a report, officials said that two children from Union Council 6 and 7 in Mirali area of North Waziristan have been diagnosed with polio virus due to non-immunization against polio.
Officials say it is difficult to vaccinate so quickly because of parental negligence and the lack of security for vaccination staff.
The area was the epicenter of the polio virus until 2014 after the Taliban took control of North Waziristan, officials said, adding that two cases had been reported in the district after a gap of 15 months.
An official from Peshawar, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “On paper, we have less than 2,000 cases of people who refused to be vaccinated against the polio vaccine, which is less than one percent of the total, but with the polio vaccine.” The silent number of deniers far exceeds the recorded figures.
He said that half of the residents of the village where the second case of polio has been reported, refuse to even get the usual immunizations.
Authorities also noted that staff deployed for the polio campaign were threatened by their parents, after which they registered their children as ‘vaccinated’, but in reality the children were vaccinated against polio. The vaccine was not given, officials said, adding that our staff did so out of fear that the vaccinating staff could not report them as “deniers.”
Health workers in the area told the report’s author that a small number of children without immunizations were endangering the health of all children.
He feared that more cases would be reported in the area as the collection of stool samples has been increased.
He added that five samples have been sent for analysis from close contacts of young children infected with polio.
The uncle of a child who tested positive for polio on April 22 claimed that his child had been vaccinated by the police during a door-to-door polio campaign, but was nevertheless diagnosed with a disability.
However, health officials in the area denied that the child had been vaccinated against polio, which is why he had contracted the virus.
Authorities said a two-year-old girl, who tested positive for poliomyelitis, had not been vaccinated and had not received a single shot.
Dr. Gulistan Wazir, District Health Officer, North Waziristan, told Dawn that we have sent a sample for serology examination to National Institute of Health, Islamabad to ascertain the status of vaccination and awaiting report, for polio. According to the National Operations Center (NOC) guidelines, we have completed the process of polio vaccination in 15 union councils to protect children from the disease.
He added that the first case was registered in Union Council No. 6 and the second in Union Council No. 7.
“We have vaccinated more than 78,000 children under the age of five,” he said, adding that they had a total target of vaccinating 110,000 children in 23 union councils. The campaign included shots of polio vaccine.
Gulistan Wazir further said that in each campaign we deployed 526 teams, each consisting of two persons and special security is deployed by the law enforcement agencies to ensure that every A child should be vaccinated and protected from disability.
“Security personnel are very helpful as we work in difficult and remote areas without any fear,” the DHO added.
He said that the government had recently increased the fee for vaccinating staff to Rs 10,000 per campaign to further improve the vaccination process.
Dr Gulistan said he had about 700 paramedics, who also had to work in 1,200 health facilities for general patients, so he organized a mega training event for fourth-tier employees to use their services in the campaign. Planning to hold
According to the UNICEF office in Peshawar, overall Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has recorded a decline in polio vaccination, with 18,349 people in the province refusing to be vaccinated in the March 2022 campaign compared to December 2021. I am less when 19,374 people refused to be vaccinated.
