Parents to face jail time, huge fine for refusing polio vaccination to children

KARACHI – Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori has signed the Sindh Immunization and Epidemics Control Bill 2023, and announced imposing fines and jail terms to parents who refuse vaccinations to their children.

Under the law, the concerned deputy commissioner (DC) has been given powers to impose penalties under Section (1). The accused parents will face a one-month jail term and PKR 50,000 in fines.

In February, stats showed that over 62,000 parents refused vaccination to their children during the nationwide polio vaccination campaign from January 02-29.

In the anti-polio campaign held in January in three phases, 62,411 parents refused to administer polio vaccine to their offsprings.

Most of the parents who refused the polio vaccine to their children belonged to Sindh, according to sources. 

Polio is a highly infectious and debilitating disease that is usually spread through contaminated water or food. Invading the nervous system, the disease can cause total paralysis within hours.

The contagious virus thrived in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan where militants attacked and even killed anti-polio teams.