Hundreds of school kids sickened after polio vaccinations
peshawar — Pakistani officials say hundreds of schoolchildren have been taken to hospitals complaining of nausea and vomiting after being given polio vaccinations.
They say angry family members responded by storming a local health facility in Peshawar on Monday and setting it ablaze.
Pakistan on Monday launched a country-wide campaign to administer anti-polio drops to 39 million children under five years of age.
The incident deals another blow to efforts to eradicate the disease, which have been hindered by widespread distrust in some areas.
Earlier, national coordinator of polio eradication programme Rana Safdar while launching the scheme said: “Our aim is to reach 39 million children who are under five years of age”.
More than 260,000 polio workers are involved in administering anti-polio medicine, he said. Despite efforts, the country has not been able to completely eliminate the disease. Six cases of polio have been reported so far in 2019. 12 cases were reported in 2018 and 8 in 2017.
Attempts to eradicate the crippling disease have been seriously hampered by deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years by militants, who oppose the drives, claiming the polio drops cause infertility.
Attacks on immunisation teams have claimed 68 lives since December 2012.
Earlier this month, member of a polio monitoring team was gunned down on Monday by a man after a verbal brawl during a campaign at a village near PakAfghan border.
In January 2014, three workers were killed while in late 2012, five workers including four female workers were killed in Qayyumabad area. —