Kamal concerned over polio vaccination refusals

islamabad: Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal has expressed serious concern over vaccine refusals, stating that nearly 43,000 parents in Sindh — 42,000 of them in Karachi alone —have refused polio vaccination for their children, posing a major obstacle to the eradication efforts.

He made these remarks while visiting the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre for Polio (EOC) in Sindh to assess the ongoing eradication efforts. He emphasised that polio could not be eliminated unless every child was vaccinated and directed the officials to compile a detailed report on vaccine-refusing families to strategise targeted interventions.

Highlighting the gravity of the situation, the health minister pointed out that four of the six polio cases reported this year in Pakistan had emerged from Sindh.