Battling with polio, Pakistan has been for years striving hard to eradicate the crippling disease; however, there still exits a number of people even in the Federal Capital who continue to cast doubts over the quality of polio vaccination.
As today while an anti-polio drive was underway in the Federal Capital, a resident of Shahzad Town area of Islamabad voiced reservations over the anti-polio program and refused vaccination for his children.
Subsequently, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Babar Bin Atta and the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat got themselves vaccinated polio drops to allay his fears.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) lawmaker in the National Assembly Raja Khurram Nawaz was also present on the occasion.
This father from UC Shehzad Town had serious questions on the safety and efficacy of polio drops. His demand that I and @dcislamabad should take polio drops first before he will allow it for the first time to his son. Here we go sir 😊👇👇 pic.twitter.com/93n3doMl69
— Babar Atta (@babarbinatta) November 15, 2018
It is worth noting that along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is the only Country in the World where polio virus still exists.
As per the official figures, so far in 2018, six polio cases have been reported in the Country. Prior to it, 54 polio cases were reported in 2015, 20 in 2016 and eight in 2017.
Polio Cases in Pakistan
The government of Pakistan initiated polio eradication efforts in 1994 and so far over an estimated 875,000 cases of polio related paralysis and death have been prevented in the Country.
Since 2011, the polio eradication is being tackled as a national public health emergency and a yearly National Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication (NEAP) is being developed and implemented across Pakistan.
