Thousands of children missed as anti-polio campaign continues

Islamabad: A total of 16,497 families in different parts of Pakistan refused administration of anti-polio vaccine to their children during the first two days of the nationwide door-to-door polio immunisation campaign currently underway. Another 610,333 children were not available for vaccination when the teams visited their houses, it is learnt.
The polio campaign has had to be postponed in several districts of Pakistan including Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where the decision has been taken in view of large-scale mobilisation of security forces for Pakistan Day events. There is a possibility of the campaign being held in these two cities on March 30, but a final decision to this effect is still awaited.
The campaign has also been postponed in Youhanaabad, Lahore, due to the bomb blast, and Mansehra, due to Tuesday’s deadly attack on a polio team. Lack of security arrangements have led to postponement of the campaign in Jhang, Orangi and Baldia towns in Karachi, and Quetta.
Similarly, the campaign has been cancelled in 5 Union Councils (UCs) of Abbottabad, 4 UC’s of Mansehra, 1 UC in Astore, 2 UCs in Skardu, and 3 UCs in Neelum Valley due to lack of access due to heavy snowfall.
Thousands of children are still being missed for one reason or the other in a country where polio is supposedly a national emergency. And this is not the complete picture yet, as these figures are from the first two days of the campaign only. Is Pakistan really on track to eradicating polio? Fact is, polio is far from being tackled as a national emergency, and the data provide ample evidence to this effect.