Children fall sick after taking ‘polio drops’

PESHAWAR: Residents broke down the main gate and set fire at the Mashokhel Hospital here on Monday, as around 40 children allegedly fell sick after being administered anti-polio drops.

Residents staged a demonstration outside the hospital and damaged the property. The protesters also broke down the main gate of the hospital and set the building on fire. Hayatabad Medical Complex spokesperson said the children were stable and that they complained of dizziness. Speaking to Geo News, Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) Coordinator Kamran Afridi said: “There can be no reaction to the anti-polio vaccine. The vaccine was not expired and the condition of all the children is normal.”

He added: “Doctors also said the children did not suffer any reaction from the vaccine. There are parents in Mashokhel who do not want to administer anti-polio drops to their children and they could have fallen sick owing to other reasons.”

A countrywide campaign to administer anti-polio drops to children under five years of age started on Monday. National Coordinator for Polio Eradication Programme Dr Rana Safdar told Radio Pakistan the anti-polio drive will target 39 million children in all four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Hisham Inamullah Khan reiterated that anti-polio vaccine was safe in all respects and dispelled the impression of illness of children due to vaccination.

In a video message, he said batches of the vaccine administered to children in Peshawar were thoroughly examined and checked in laboratories and found safe for consumption in all respects. He said medical and blood tests of ailing students had also been taken and no reaction due to vaccine was found. The minister regretted the rumours spread by some elements about illness of children due to polio vaccine.