Five more polio cases were confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, raising the number to 53 this year, which was 12 last year and eight in 2017.
The new victims are from Bannu (3), North Waziristan (1) and Charsadda (1) and none of these had been vaccinated, which shows the effectiveness of organised propaganda against polio vaccine.
Among them are two boys – a 22-month-old in Charsadda and a two-year-old in North Waziristan. Two girls aged seven and 30 months and a three-year-old boy are from Bannu.
“During investigations it emerged that not a single child was vaccinated during polio and routine immunisation campaigns, as their parents apparently did not allow the children to be vaccinated,” an official of Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) told DAWN on the condition of anonymity.
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The new victims are from Bannu (3), North Waziristan (1) and Charsadda (1) and none of these had been vaccinated, which shows the effectiveness of organised propaganda against polio vaccine.
Also read: Facebook Posts, YouTube Videos Spreading Misinformation About Polio Vaccination Taken Down
Among them are two boys – a 22-month-old in Charsadda and a two-year-old in North Waziristan. Two girls aged seven and 30 months and a three-year-old boy are from Bannu.
Also read: Fake Markers Risk Pakistan’s Anti Polio Efforts
“During investigations it emerged that not a single child was vaccinated during polio and routine immunisation campaigns, as their parents apparently did not allow the children to be vaccinated,” an official of Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) told DAWN on the condition of anonymity.