PESHAWAR – At least three children died and four others fell seriously ill after they were administered with anti-polio injection in Peshawar, Dunya News reported on Monday.
According to the affected parents, the children were vaccinated as part of a routine vaccination campaign in Shaheen Muslim Town of the city Sunday night. They claimed that their children fell unconscious after the vaccine was administered.
The children who are said to be in critical condition have been shifted to hospital for treatment, while the deceased minors have been buried.
Provincial secretary health has taken notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry into the matter. The culprit will be found and investigated as per law, and will be punished if proven guilty, he said.
Last month, Geo News reported that three children lost their lives and at least seven others fell unconscious after they were administered with routine immunisation vaccines in Maryam Road area of Nawabshah.
Medical Superintendent at Peoples Medical Hospital, Dr Mazhar confirmed that the children had been given routine immunisation vaccines. He said the cause of deaths of the three children would only be ascertained after a post-mortem has been carried out.
The Pakistani government is in the middle of a major anti-polio vaccination campaign to eradicate polio from Pakistan by 2017. The program calls for a “multi-pronged strategy with a well-developed work plan to ensure all children are vaccinated and any circulating virus is detected quickly and responded to immediately.”
According to local health officials, Pakistan, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, remain the world’s only countries in which wild type polio remains endemic.
