KARACHI : A six-month-old baby boy with reportedly history of polio vaccine refusal has fallen victim to the crippling disease in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi, confirmed the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio Sindh on Thursday.
Sindh has recorded three polio cases in 2019 - one from Larkana and two from Karachi, pushing up the total cases in the country to 18, said Coordinator for EOC Sindh Umar Farooq Bullo.
He said that refusal and misinformation against vaccination have led to another polio case in Pakistan, this time from Karachi, the National Institute for Health confirmed.
He said, “Fake propaganda against vaccination leads to misconception and parents must not fall prey to it.”
“Families who refuse polio vaccination not only put their children in danger but also the children of others,” said the Coordinator EOC sindh.
According to child’s father, the child developed low-grade fever on April 28, 2019 and was taken for consultation to a hospital in Gulberg. Fever was followed by weakness of both lower limbs the next day. The latest polio case emerged in Union Council 12 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
The coordinator EOC Sindh also requested the media to spread awareness about repeated vaccination being necessary for future of children and help quash misconceptions.
“We are all stakeholders in eradicating polio from Pakistan and must work together to finish polio virus, he added.
“If children will not be vaccinated repeatedly, the polio cases will be reported,” he said.
