News Desk
ISLAMABAD: As many as 91,000 children under the age of five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa missed polio drops during the seven-day police vaccination drive that started on January 16 in the province, as per a report of the health department.
According to the report, more than 71,530 children were not present in 36 districts of the province at their houses at the time of vaccination, while 20,305 parents refused to give polio drops to their children.
It said that a target of giving polio vaccination to 7.459 million children was set for the week-long campaign, out of which 7.455 million children were given the anti-polio drops and vitamin A.
Refusal cases of polio vaccination
It said that the majority of the cases of refusal were reported from Peshawar, where 7,352 parents of children refused to get their children vaccinated. Similarly, 10,898 children were absent at home during the visit of polio teams to their homes.
North Waziristan was the province’s second most refusing district, with 2,919 parents refusing polio vaccination for their children, followed by Bannu with 2,251 refusal cases.
Charsadda had 215 refusal cases, Dera Ismail Khan had 1,674, Hangu had 9, Haripur had 2, Karak had 742, Khyber had 206, Kohat had 161, Lakki Marwat had 1,437, Mardan had 934, Mohmand had 1241, Nowshera had 220, Swabi had 400, Swat had five, Tank had 304, Torghar had four, and South Waziristan had 229.
The report further stated that 1,144 vulnerable children missed the dose in Abbottabad, 4,622 in Bannu, 2,929 in Bajaur, 639 in Batagram, 887 in Buner, 735 in Chitral Lower, 721 in Chitral Upper, 3,772 in Charsadda, 8,294 in Dera Khan, 3,720 in Dir Lower, 784 in Dir Upper, 1,422 in Haripur, 1,814 in Karak, 986 in Hangu, 2,976 in Khyder, 50 in Kohistan Lower, 144 in Kohistan Kohistan Upper, 1,539 in Kohat, 2 in Kolaipalas, 2,858 Lakki Marwat, 891 in Kurram, 1,266 Malakand, 2,779 in Mansehra, 3,470 in Mardan, 4,628 in Nowshera, 3,553 in Mohmand,380 in Orakzai, 18,250 in Peshawar, 2,625 in Swabi, 335 in Shangla, 6,084 in Swat, 2042 in Tank, 79 in Torghar, 826 in South Waziristan and 4,589 in North Waziristan.
In Peshawar, 903,297 children were fully vaccinated against the crippling polio virus. According to the report, 20 cases of polio were reported in the province’s three southern districts last year, including 17 in North Waziristan, two in Lakki Marwat, and one in South Waziristan.
