Polio vaccine is safe for children, says JUI-F leader

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Fata chapter leader Mufti Abdul Shakoor has categorically termed the polio vaccine safe for children. In a statement, he said: “I consider polio vaccine safe and urge the parents not to listen to any rumours about it, but vaccinate their children every time polio vaccine is offered during every campaign.” He said similar was the opinion of all Ulema and doctors that polio and all other vaccines were safe and caused no harm to children whatsoever.

The Mufti said that during his press conference last week, he did ask the government to investigate the unfortunate deaths of kids and also find out why the children were falling ill. The JUI-F leader said some elements were trying to undermine the efforts of the government to eradicate polio from Pakistan and this should be investigated. He said parents of the children were rightly worried and the government should satisfy them by conducting a thorough investigation.

The Mufti said he had also asked the government to compensate the bereaved families.“Our leadership and workers will help the government and frontline workers to make every campaign successful,” he said.

He said the party would eradicate polio from Fata, if the government tasked it with the job. The JUI-f leader said parents should get children vaccinated to safeguard them against deadly diseases and cooperate with the vaccinators.