Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has expressed resolve to achieve the dream of a polio-free Pakistan by carrying forward the journey with unshakeable commitment and vowed to resist the individuals propagating against the polio vaccination and causing hurdles in achieving its goal. The Prime Minister appreciated the sacrifices of the polio workers and the security personnel who were striving hard to accomplish the mission of a polio-free Pakistan. During a ceremony to mark World Polio Day, the Premier noted that by opposing the polio vaccine, the anti-vaxxers, intentionally or unintentionally, were partnering with the forces of darkness. He emphasised the role of faith leaders and society to make such people realise that they were partnering with the destroyer of humans.
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affects children. These viral infections once had been the world’s deadliest epidemic during the eighties which killed millions of innocent children and infants along with pushing countless others into permanent disability, impaired vision or organ paralyzation. Pakistan launched its first-ever polio eradication program in early 1994 to help end the crippling poliovirus in the country. The global community has almost won the battle against polio, however, Pakistan and its western neighbour Afghanistan are failing to control this deadly disease in their nation despite continuous efforts, massive foreign funding and global support mainly due to the non-cooperation of the public over the past few decades.
Presently, Pakistan’s failure to control this epidemic has become a stigma for the entire nation, because the South Asian nation failed to achieve its goal despite massive global support, and availability of resources only due to non-cooperation from the public in certain areas. There have been multiple conspiracy theories and self-coined religious biases linked to the anti-polio endeavours of the government which prompted opposition and refusal of parents to administer polio vaccines to their kids, while the fake polio vaccine campaign by the CIA to confirm Osama Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad further caused doubts among the masses. Presently, the Pakistani government and its global partners are vigorously pursuing this agenda and are determined to achieve their target through concerted efforts, public awareness, and the imposition of regressive anti-polio measures across the nation.
Meanwhile, the continuous failure to achieve the goal of a polio-free Pakistan is causing great embarrassment for the government at the international level as backward African nations had achieved this target many years ago while nuclear Pakistan is still battling poliovirus in its country. The government has used multiple strategies to motivate parents to immunize their kids including the use of religious clerics, tribal notables, and awareness campaigns in the media but these efforts failed to produce the required results and the deadly viral epidemic still exists in the country and continuously perishing precious lives and causes lifelong disabilities in our infants.
The situation has become so challenging that all traditional strategies, incentives and motivations have proved to be futile over the past three decades, while continued propaganda and false rigidity of parents pose serious risks to national interests, the country’s prestige and the well-being of the public, while implementation of harsh measures become unavoidable to accomplish the national cause and secure future generation from grave risks.
The government of Pakistan has been considering multiple administrative and legal measures against the parents refusing polio immunization to their kids including prosecution, imprisonment, fines, blocking of bank accounts etc. if they fail to get their kids immunized for polio and eight other infectious diseases. Although such policies are rare, harsh measures have now become essential to achieve public cooperation in the larger interest of the nation. In fact, the Immunization of children is a national and parental duty and every citizen must play his role in the accomplishment of this national cause, therefore, the government must initiate concrete steps without wasting time on cosmetic strategies so the nation can achieve its long-desired destiny of polio-free Pakistan.
