Over 60% polio affected children missed vaccines, reveals official

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Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Health Services, Dr. Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Barth, on Wednesday expressed his concern over the non-vaccination of polio-affected children across the country.

This year, 60 percent of polio children were not given any routine immunization, the government official said.

Directing federal and provincial authorities to take immediate steps in this regard, Barth said: “The severity of this disease among children was also seen due to lack of vaccination”.

“Ensure every child is vaccinated against all diseases, including polio,” he said on the Federal Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program to develop a joint strategy for polio-affected districts. said emphatically.

His comments came when he addressed the inaugural meeting of the steering committee focused on scaling up the polio vaccination program for children.

During the meeting, he elaborated on the current challenges faced by EPI and the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program in the fight against polio in the country.

Giving details of the plans for the upcoming campaign, he revealed that polio workers will identify unimmunized children while EPI vaccinators will be responsible for completing the vaccination course for these children.

Furthermore, he reiterated the federal government’s commitment to protect children from communicable diseases, saying the ministry would use “all resources for this”.

Bharath said, “I am committed to eradicating polio from the entire country. I and the federal health secretary will monitor all the steps taken.”

The News reported that EOC National Coordinator, Captain (retd) Anwarul Haq had announced the nationwide polio vaccination campaign, which will be conducted from December 16 to 22.

The campaign will target 44 million children in 143 districts across Pakistan, excluding some districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir due to logistical constraints.

Pakistan’s fight against polio continues to face obstacles. Despite a 99% reduction in wild polio cases since the initiation of the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program in 1994, the reintroduction of the YB3A genetic cluster of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) through cross-border transmission in 2023 could cause the virus to become 82 It has spread in the districts.

The absence of routine immunization among a large group of children has created a gap in immunity, making this population vulnerable to the virus.

Insecurity is a major challenge in areas such as southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, hampering vaccination campaigns, leaving many children inaccessible or under-immunized.

Additionally, demand-based refusal in these regions, where communities boycott polio campaigns for other services, complicates eradication efforts.

Misconceptions and propaganda against the polio vaccine also hinder progress, as some parents refuse to vaccinate their children despite the vaccine’s proven safety and efficacy.

Since its inception, Pakistan’s polio eradication program has achieved notable milestones. Wild polio cases have declined from an estimated 20,000 annually in the 1990s to 59 in 2024.

The number of wild poliovirus genetic clusters has also decreased significantly – from 11 in 2020 to just one. YB3A is currently in circulation. The YB3C genetic cluster, which was endemic to Pakistan, has not been detected since November 2023, indicating its possible extinction.

Anwar-ul-Haq highlighted Pakistan’s poliovirus surveillance system, which is the largest and most sensitive system in the world.

The network includes more than 12,000 acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) reporting sites and 127 environmental sampling sites in 87 districts. This year alone, nearly 20,000 AFP samples and more than 1,800 environmental samples have been tested, with 29 percent of environmental samples testing positive for WPV1.