Rawalpindi (GNP): The continued presence of poliovirus in sewage samples from Rawalpindi district has prompted the district Health Department to approve another anti-polio vaccination campaign, undercutting earlier claims that the district had been made polio-free.
The Health Department has announced that the latest drive will be conducted from September 21 to 24, during which around one million children between newborns and five years of age will be administered polio drops across the district. The renewed campaign comes even as concerns grow over a separate and persistent challenge undermining vaccination efforts on the ground: a steady rise in the number of families refusing to have their children vaccinated against polio.
Officials had previously attributed most vaccine refusals to Afghan families residing in the district. That explanation, however, has been undermined by the continued rise in refusal cases despite the deportation of Afghan families from across Rawalpindi, pointing to a broader pattern that extends well beyond the demographic once blamed for the trend.
Health officials now face refusals from families in affluent neighbourhoods as well, a shift that marks a significant change in the profile of vaccine hesitancy in the district. Refusal cases have been reported in Pindora, Satellite Town, New Katarian, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Saddar, Dhoke Hasu, Pirwadhai and Dhoke Mangtal, indicating that the problem has spread across a wide cross-section of the city rather than being confined to any single area.
According to the report, domestic employees working in large houses often do not open their doors when anti-polio teams arrive, limiting access to children within these households. In affluent neighbourhoods, female polio workers have reportedly moved on after hearing dogs barking when they knock on doors or ring doorbells, further complicating efforts to reach children who require vaccination.
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These access challenges have compounded existing gaps in the campaign’s field coverage. Claims of fully covering vaccine-refusing families have failed to translate into effective coverage on the ground, with teams reportedly discontinuing visits to government and private schools and no longer setting up vaccination counters at railway stations and bus stops during several recent campaigns.
In practice, a widespread pattern has emerged across Rawalpindi, with both anti-polio and anti-dengue teams being turned away by residents, underscoring the scale of the challenge health authorities face as they prepare to launch the district’s next vaccination drive later this month.
