PAKISTAN: Latest reports have claimed that the nationwide immunisation drive has been cancelled due the heightened security threats, however the senior official associated with Polio Eradication has refuted this claim.
The polio campaign was set to run for five day from 22 April till 27 April 2019, and has been concluded according to schedule.
The campaign lasted from Monday till Friday.
Babar bin Atta, the advisor of Polio Eradication to Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted in regards to the cancellation that, “… let me clearly state that National Polio Campaign was a 5 day affair. It started on Monday & Ended Yesterday. The LQAS (survey to check 95% optimum levels) has been stopped as we know the quality is not 95%. Why waste Government/Donor resources?”
The polio eradication advisor also stated that the statistics including the amount of children vaccinated, refusal cases and a complete detail of the campaign would be released on Saturday.
The campaign will also be launched again after Eid holidays, said Babar bin Atta.
The rumours about the cancellation spread due to an advisory that was sent to the Provincial Emergency Operation Centres on Friday, which led to the controversy.
The spokesperson for the Federal Health Ministry also supported Babar bin Atta’s stance on the polio eradication. He stated, “This vaccination campaign proceeded as per schedule. There was no cancellation as clarified by the prime minister’s adviser.”
Another anti-polio official stated that the vaccination drive of April has been impacted by “pre-planned propaganda campaign in Peshawar.”
Rumours of children suffering from polio vaccinations reacting badly caused panic nationwide, resulting in raising suspicions in regards to the vaccine campaign. However, an official report confirmed that the panic was caused by a “pre-planned conspiracy”.
This incident caused havoc in the lives of polio workers, as they were harassed, stoned, mistreated, blamed and beaten while a health clinic was made a victim of arson.
The National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication stated how they needed to protect their program from major damage.
Hence the “National Technical Team and GPEI partners have made a decision to call off the catch-up activities of the April campaign, resulting in no vaccination or activity would be conducted in any area for this campaign. A plan for further SIAs will be jointly decided as well, as no post campaign evaluation will be conducted.”