Rumours stoke hostility to nation’s anti-polio drive

Fears spread that children are dying from contaminated vaccines

The rumours spread like wildfire, triggering mass panic in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Mobs burnt a village health centre, blocked a highway and pelted cars with stones. Medical workers were harassed and threatened.

Mosques made announcements that children were having cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea after they were given “poisonous” polio drops. Word went out on social media that some children had died.

Panicked parents rushed their children to hospitals, overwhelming health authorities. In Peshawar alone, about 45,000 children were brought to hospitals complaining of nausea and dizziness. Officials described it as mass hysteria, asserting there had been no deaths confirmed.

Reuters Thousands of children have been brought to hospitals in Peshawar, in what officials described as mass hysteria.