QUETTA: Health officials in Balochistan have uncovered a disturbing trend of fake anti-polio vaccinations in the province.
They revealed that some polio workers and parents who refuse to vaccinate their children are colluding to mislead the government.
The officials claimed that disciplinary action has been taken against more than 500 polio workers involved in these fake vaccinations.
This year, 80 per cent of the polio cases reported across Pakistan have occurred in Balochistan, the country’s smallest province by population. After being polio-free for two years, the resurgence of the epidemic in Balochistan has raised serious concerns, especially given the recent deaths of children due to the disease, said a report in Urdu News.
Officials have now begun working on a new strategy to combat the resurgence.
According to the health officials, 15 cases of polio have been reported in Pakistan so far this year, with 12 of them from Balochistan. The remaining three cases were reported in Sindh (two cases) and Punjab (one case). Notably, this is the first polio case reported in Punjab in three years.
Inamul Haq, the Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in Balochistan, stated that seven of these cases have been reported in the Quetta block, which is one of the highest-risk areas in the country. Five cases were reported from the Qila Abdullah district of the Quetta block, with one case each in Quetta city and Chaman.
He said that the other five cases have been reported in Dera Bugti, Jhal Magsi, Zhob, Qila Saifullah, and Kharan. Notably, this is the first time a case of polio has been reported in Kharan.
Over the past 10 years, 66 cases of polio have been reported in Balochistan. The highest number of cases in a single year was 26 in 2020. Following that, the number of children affected by the disease began to decline. In 2021, only one case was reported, and Balochistan remained polio-free throughout 2022 and 2023, according to health officials.
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Explaining the sudden resurgence of polio in 2024, Inamul Haq noted that Balochistan had been polio-free for 28 months. During this period, no virus samples were detected in the environment, and no cases were reported, leading to the belief that the virus was fading.
However, during this time, he said, the government was preoccupied with other issues, including elections, power outages, and the evacuation of foreigners (mostly Afghans) last year. As a result, the quality of the polio campaign declined, allowing the disease to resurface. The presence of the polio virus in environmental samples was first reported in September 2023, and cases began emerging from February this year. So far, eight districts in the province have been affected.
In a briefing to reporters in Quetta, organisations working on anti-polio efforts cited several reasons for the failure to eradicate polio, including parents’ refusal to vaccinate their children, hiding children from vaccination teams, security issues, lack of access to remote areas, migration, and the travelling of people from Afghanistan through non-traditional routes.
The briefing also highlighted that the quality of the polio campaign in neighbouring Afghanistan has been compromised. Since 2018, house-to-house vaccination has been banned in southern Afghanistan, making Balochistan particularly vulnerable due to its long border with Afghanistan.
In the briefing, it was further stated that the initial transmission of the polio virus in the province occurred from Afghanistan’s Kandahar province to Chaman.
The briefing also highlighted issues caused by the frequent transfer and posting of deputy commissioners and district health officers in the districts. Some tribal elders have used polio as leverage to press their demands on the government. Additionally, the opposition of leaders during the protest sit-in in Chaman, which lasted for more than ten months, led to an increase in vaccine refusals among parents in Chaman and Qila Abdullah.
According to Inamul Haq, Balochistan is the largest province in the country by area, which sometimes creates access issues in remote areas. Despite these challenges, the teams are working diligently, he said.
He noted that security concerns continue to pose challenges to polio eradication, with eight polio workers killed in the last 10 years. Last year, several police officers were also killed while protecting polio teams, he said.
Haq identified the lack of full immunisation coverage as one of the main reasons for the increase in polio cases in Balochistan, which weakens children’s immunity and makes them more susceptible to the disease.
The migration of people within the province also contributes to the spread of the polio virus. For example, an infected child from Qila Abdullah came from Karachi.
A major contributing factor is the reluctance of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. Haq said that these unvaccinated children not only contract polio themselves but also become sources of transmission. Parents have found new ways to refuse the vaccine, sometimes in collusion with polio workers, he confired.
“We have identified some teams involved in fake vaccinations, where they marked children’s fingers without actually administering the drops,” Haq said. “There is a zero-tolerance policy for this at both the national and provincial levels.” As a result, 74 polio workers were dismissed from their jobs, with over 500 personnel facing disciplinary action, he said.
Child Deaths Due to Polio in Balochistan
Dr Aftab Kakar, a technical officer of the anti-polio campaign, said that three out of the 12 children affected by polio in Balochistan this year have died. All three were under two years old. Two of the girls were from the Muslim Bagh area of Quetta and Qila Saifullah, while the other child was from Kharan, he said.
Coordinator Inamul Haq said that a special polio campaign will be conducted in all districts of Balochistan starting from September 9, with a target of vaccinating 2.6 million children. He added that during the campaign, special attention will be given to parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, and strategies will be improved to address this issue.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Ayesha Raza Farooq stated that last year in Balochistan, challenges in conducting the polio campaign resulted in many children being deprived of the vaccine. Unfortunately, these disruptions are now affecting children, she said.
Ayesha Farooq also announced that preparations are under way for a joint anti-polio campaign with Afghanistan, involving collaboration with provincial teams and the consideration of local solutions to local challenges.
She emphasised that the polio programme has discussed strategies with all provinces in recent weeks and is adopting a comprehensive road map to help prevent the transmission of the virus, particularly in high-risk districts of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh.
Anwarul Haque said that a joint anti-polio campaign will be conducted simultaneously in both Pakistan and Afghanistan in September. The goal is to increase the immunity of children against polio on both sides of the border, he said.
He stated, “The polio virus has spread to 59 districts, and our top priority is to halt its spread to protect children from this disease.”