Paediatric Association defends polio vaccination

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) has expressed shock over a news item that appeared in an Urdu daily on Friday against polio vaccination.

In a press release on Monday, the PPA office-bearers said that facts are known by all and sundry that Pakistan is one of the only three countries with polio.

They said the only way to eradicate this disease was repeated doses of polio vaccine. “Polio workers are sacrificing their lives and working under difficult

circumstances like walking through snow in mountains or women in Sindh walking through the dirty rainwater carrying vaccine carriers to help eradicate polio from Pakistan,” said Pakistan Paediatric Association President Prof Dr Gohar Rahman.

He said that a senior paediatrician had once stated that if polio drops were to be responsible for infertility, then why in Pakistan population has been increasing day by day in spite of millions of children receiving polio drops in the country in more than two decades of national polio days.

Prof Gohar said that frequent doses of polio does not cause any harm to the children, saying it rather helps in immunity, and through it, the crippling disease has been eradicated from the rest of the world.

He said Pakistan has already reported four polio cases, and besides many other challenges, refusal was one the major issues being confronted by the polio vaccinators in the country.

“This is happening because of refusals by public after reading these negative stories in the media. I urge parents, health workers, print and social media, religious leaders to cooperate with the government in its efforts to eradicate polio from Pakistan by making sure that every child under five years of age gets polio drops during polio campaign,” said the president of PPA.