Pakistan authorities have been stymied by community opposition to the polio vaccine and threats by the Taliban toward the population if they get their children vaccinated, blocking efforts to eradicate the crippling disease in Peshawar. one of the last strongholds for the disease in Pakistan.
Feroz Shah, a spokesman for the district administration in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said that 471 people have been arrested so far and are in jail in the city under government orders. He said that while a few arrests have been made in the past for not complying with orders to get children vaccinated against the polio virus, “This is the first time such drastic action was taken,” Shah said. “This shows determination of the government to eradicate polio.”
Pervez Kamal, the director of health for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region in the northwest explained that many parents have been influenced by clerics who say the vaccination program is nothing more than an attempt to weaken Islam. “There was no other option. We have run so many awareness campaigns for the parents and general masses that there is no harm in the vaccine, but to no avail,” Kamal said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), polio, a common childhood disease which can paralyze, usually striking children under the age of five, has been almost eradicated worldwide. The number of reported cases in the last 25 years has declined 99 percent. But polio has made a comeback in Pakistan since the Taliban moved in, seeking to make Pakistan a state with strict Islamic rule.
The Taliban has targeted public health workers, killing 64 people working on polio teams along with their security escorts. There are also a number of Pakistanis who refuse to vaccinate their children because they think it is a Western plot to sterilize their children.
