Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal has expressed grave concern over the rising number of polio vaccination refusals in the metropolis, revealing that nearly 27,000 parents have declined to vaccinate their children against the crippling disease.
Speaking at the inauguration of the anti-polio campaign in Baldia Town, the minister said that 40 per cent of these refusals were concentrated in Gujro, Baldia, and Ittehad Town in District East. “The prime minister asks me in every meeting about the growing refusal cases in Karachi,” he told the gathering at the DHO office in Keamari, where he also administered polio drops to children.
He warned that the detection of the poliovirus in environmental samples across all districts of Karachi posed a serious threat. “Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the virus still exists. This year, Pakistan has reported 24 cases — 16 of them in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including 13 from South K-P where campaigns have not been conducted for years,” he added.
According to him, 78 out of 127 districts nationwide have tested positive for the virus in environmental samples. “Without the eradication campaigns, nearly 24,000 children in Pakistan could have been disabled this year. Due to these efforts, the number is limited to 24,” he added.
Kamal lamented the negative propaganda portraying polio drops as a conspiracy or a weapon of genocide. “These drops are administered across the world, yet nowhere has the population decreased because of them. Would I harm my own children if they were unsafe? I served as Karachi’s mayor 20 years ago and as a senator 16 years ago — should I now be labelled a foreign agent?” he asked.
Appealing to parents not to endanger their children’s future due to grievances or misconceptions, the minister said the campaign was not a political event but a humanitarian effort to save children from permanent disability. “Our job is to convince parents, not to take action against them,” he added.
He further pointed out that even in Afghanistan, the Taliban facilitate polio vaccination, with children in Kandahar brought to mosques to receive drops. “Every pilgrim going for Hajj or Umrah is also vaccinated, which proves that the propaganda is baseless,” he added. He warned that parents who refused vaccination would be answerable not only in this world but also in the hereafter.
