Child in Pakistan gets polio despite regular vaccination

Swabi - Polio does affect children who have had regular vaccination for the disease in Pakistan, as follows from a new case of polio reported in a child in Swabi District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The 5-year-old boy named Adil tested positive for polio even though he had been vaccinated regularly for the past 4 years, as reported in The Express Tribune. The doctor in charge of polio vaccination campaign in the area is reportedly confused about how Adil contracted the disease despite having being vaccinated for it. The paper reports that Adil has got paralyzed in both legs and now faces great difficulty in moving on his own. According to the paper, nine polio cases have been reported in the province so far this year while Swabi remains one of the areas where parents’ refusal to get their children vaccinated for polio remains high. Previously, a number of cases from different parts of the country have made news in which children either became paralyzed or fell dead shortly after getting vaccinated for polio with the orally administered polio vaccine. Last year, a private TV channel reported the case of a boy in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who became paralyzed while two others vaccinated for polio along with him died after receiving the vaccine. The boy tells in the video that his siblings who missed vaccination for polio stayed safe and sound. The orally administered polio vaccine has been criticized by many health experts for the frequently reported polio type paralysis it is said to cause in children who are vaccinated with it. The continued use of this vaccine in the third world has also raised concerns as its use has been banned in many developed countries.