[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: During the recent polio...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
campaign held in the capital it was observed that a large number of educated people did not want to vaccinate their children.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Abdul Sattar Isani termed the situation unfortunate and claimed that all possible steps would be taken to ensure that every child was administered the polio drops.
He said even cases were registered against those who refused the vaccination.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said she was not in favour of registering cases as the administration of polio vaccine was a continuous process.
She requested the media to play a role to create awareness that polio vaccine is safe.
During the current year environmental samples collected from different parts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were found positive for the poliovirus.
As a result, a special polio campaign was launched on March 27 in the high risk areas of the twin cities.
An official of the polio programme, requesting not to be quoted, said teams were formed to administer polio drops to every child.
"However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
it was strange that we faced a strong resistance from even well-educated people. Though they did not have religious reasons but were not in favour of vaccinating their children. A majority of them claimed that they had administered polio drops privately but failed to produce a vaccination card or certificate," he said.
Sharing an incident, he said a resident of Sector G-7/2 refused to vaccinate his son.
"We tried our best and even a representative of the district administration was sent to the house to convince him. However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
the citizen started threatening the team after which an FIR was registered against him with the Aabpara police," he said.
Abbas Khan, a duty officer at the Aabpara police, told Dawn that though the citizen was tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
and an FIR registered against him, he could not be detained as it was a bailable offence.
"My initial impression was that the person against whom the FIR was registered would be totally illiterate but I was shocked to see that he was well educated," he said.
The official of the polio programme said the polio team faced an awkward situation when a deputy secretary of a ministry refused to administer polio drops to children present in his house.
"A well-known doctor, who works in a private hospital, was found involved in asking citizens not to administer polio drops to children. During the campaign when we reached a school in Ghori Town, the principal closed the gate and called the police.
"Even some foreigners refused the polio vaccines claiming that their children had already received the drops. But they failed to provide any certificates due to which we administered vaccine to their children," he said.