In a rather rare occurrence, the Islamabad deputy commissioner consumed polio prevention drops in order to convince a reluctant citizen to administer the vaccine to his children.
The incident happened when a resident in the federal capital refused to cooperate with the campaigners during the ongoing drive against the crippling disease. In order to convince the reluctant parent, the deputy commissioner asked one of the campaigners to administer to him the vaccine.
The significant gesture bore fruit as the citizen agreed for the first time ever to provide the drops to his children. Last month, two polio virus cases were detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s district Khyber and Karachi, bringing the total number of children affected by the crippling disease in 2018 to six. In both the cases, the virus was found in female minors.
In September, parents of 2,800 children in Rawalpindi refused polio vaccination for their offspring during the recent five-day inoculation drive. Officials say authorities were persistently trying to approach and convince parents who hadn’t allowed health workers to administer the drops to their children.