By Hamid Khan Wazir
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: In what seems to be a worrisome situation, a total of 9% households (around 3 million across Pakistan) have missed a required vaccine for their children mainly due to COVID-19 related issues.
The survey conducted by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan painted a gloomy picture as 9% Pakistanis were of the view that they missed a required vaccine for a child of their household who is under the age of 10.
A nationally representative sample of adult men and women from across the four provinces was asked the following question, “In the last two months, did you miss any required vaccines for any child in your household who is under the age of 10?” In response to this question, 9% of the respondents said ‘Yes, 78% said ‘No’ and 13% said that they have no child under the age of 10.
Due to COVID-19 related issues including mobility restrictions as well as hospitals being overworked, children are missing their regular vaccines. The purpose of this poll was to gauge the extent of this phenomenon. The findings point to a dire need to use parallel means to reach out to these 9% households (around 3 million across Pakistan) to make up for their lost vaccination.
The survey was carried out among a sample of 1,590 men and women in urban and rural areas of all four provinces of Pakistan, between March 19, 2021 and April 6, 2021. The margin of error for the survey is between 2-3% at 95% confidence level. The methodology used for data collection was phone interviews. Respondents hailed from over 100 districts of Pakistan.
