Wisal Yousafzai
PESHAWAR: Three infants died on Monday after allegedly receiving Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) at Shaheen Muslim Town Peshawar, the riskiest place for Polio.
According to the family members, the health of 12-month-old Rehan, 4-month-old Shehram and 1-month-old Aliyan depreciated after they were injected polio vaccination which eventually caused their death.
They said that soon after injection on Thursday, the condition of the children got worsened and some pimples appeared on their lips which they worried extremely and later after the severity of the diseases, they breathed their last on Monday. They said that five children are still under treatment in the hospital and their condition is also serious.
Naib Nazim Shaheen Muslim Town Neighborhood 32 said that the there was no other cause of the death and all the three death occurred soon after IPV campaign. He said that the parents were worried about the health of the other children and termed government responsible for the death of their children.
There was wide concern about the cause of death of kids and expressed sympathies with relatives of the deceased family. They said that the if the IPV was not the cause of the death then how three children died and five other went unconscious after the campaign.
Similarly they said that such cases were also reported in Tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency in the past where two children died due this type of vaccines.
The family has also requested the government to take notice of the incident, while the health ministry has formed a committee to probe into the matter and present a report over the incident within 48-hours.
Provincial Emergency operation Centre has denied the news of death of children due to polio vaccination saying that polio vaccine was the safest vaccine that does not cause deaths and protects children from lifelong disability.
Meanwhile Atif Rehman Coordinator EOC told Media in a press conference at EOC centre Peshawar said that Secretary Health has constituted an investigation team comprising District Health Officer (DHO), Representative of DC office and two pediatricians to investigate the matter in detail and report back within 48 hours. He said that the report will be shared with the media as soon as the investigation is done by the committee.
He said that the report will be shared with the media as soon as the investigation is done by the committee.
Atif Rehman said that we are all saddened by the demise of a child and pass our heartfelt condolences to the family of the child.
He reiterated that polio vaccine is the safest vaccine ever developed and over 10 billion doses of OPV and 11 million IPV does have been administered to children in Pakistan and we have received no reaction among any of the children across the country.
“It is unfortunate that the deaths are linked to polio vaccination without any investigation adding that polio vaccine is considered safest by the leading medical practitioners of the world and Pakistan” he told.
Rehman said that as per our initial investigations, a child named Rehan son on Zafar, aged 12 months and resident of Gulabad / Bostanabad died last night of some medical complications for which details are not yet confirmed and our team of professional doctors is investigating the matter thoroughly.
Around 2781 children were vaccinated with Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) in the same UC since the start of the campaign on April 23, 2018. A total number of 186459 children in Peshawar received vaccination during the campaign without any side effects, he said, adding that therefore let’s be assured that polio vaccine is safest and does not cause any harm.
He appeal to the media to remove misconceptions of the people about polio vaccination and raise public awareness and demand for polio vaccine so as to rid the country and the globe of the menace for good.
Director EPI Dr Akram Shah, while responding to media queries on vaccine safety, reassured media that vaccine used in Pakistan was the same which was used in other Muslim countries as well and was safe.
