In Pakistan, 215,119 children’s parents “refuse” to vaccinate them against polio.

Sources claim that while 1,54,736 parents were persuaded to vaccinate their children, over 215,119 incidences of refusal were recorded.

A total of 1,36,707 parents in Sindh and 56,252 parents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declined vaccination. 19,654 parents in Balochistan and 1,502 in Punjab declined. 1,004 parents in Islamabad declined to vaccinate their children.

It should be emphasized that the Sindh government has vowed to take harsh action against parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against polio, and those parents may face jail time and fines.

Under the Sindh Immunization and Epidemic Control Bill 2023, the province government authorized deputy commissioners to take action against these parents.

Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children risk a fine of fifty thousand rupees and a jail sentence of one month. The health department and polio workers will identify parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, and in conjunction with the police, they will take appropriate action against them.

The Sindh police have been directed to work in tandem with the health department and polio workers in this particular situation.

According to sources at the Ministry of National Health, Pakistan had earlier announced the country’s fifth incidence of the poliovirus this year.

The most recent incidence involves a two-year-old child from Quetta, Balochistan, who tested positive for wild type 1 poliovirus (WPV1).

The only nations where the transmission of polio has never been stopped are Pakistan and its neighbor, Afghanistan.