Refuse the polio vaccine, may lose your SIM and your identifier, Sindh says to families

Sindh -chief Minister Murad Ali Shah warned of drastic measures against parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against polio, in particular by blocking their mobile SIM cards and by suspending their national identity cards and their passports, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.

“I have no choice but to penalize those who avoid their national duty to eradicate polio-a responsibility that begins at home and affects the whole province and the country,” he said during a presidency of a meeting on the eradication of polio at home CM on Friday.

The chief minister announced the creation of a refusal cell of the polio vaccine dedicated to the house CM, which will receive data from the union council on the fact of the cases of refusal. The cell, he said, will be responsible for the fight against resistance through social, political and administrative measures.

Shah also ordered legal action against families refusing Polio drops, stressing that the refusal was unacceptable because he endangered not only their own children but also others by distributing the virus. He expressed his regret that despite years of effort, polio cases continue to surface in the Sindh. During last week, two new cases were reported, bringing the provincial total to nine.

In Pakistan, 29 cases were confirmed this year with 18 at Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, nine in Sindh, and each in Punjab and Azad Jammu- & Cachemire.

During the briefing, the Minister of Health, Dr. Azra Pechuho, and the EOC coordinator, Irshad Sodhar, said that new cases had been detected in Ththa, Badin, Mithi, Umerkot, Hyderabad, Qambar and Larkana. Most of them noted, were linked to parental refusal or absent children during vaccination campaigns.

Shah was informed that the environmental samples of several sites in Karachi, notably Sohrab Goth, Orangi, Mosquito Colony, Rashid Minhas and Hijrat Colony, had been tested positive for the virus, showing its persistent circulation in urban areas.

He ordered the health department to activate the refusal conversion committee to revisit each household that refuses vaccination. He also asked elected officials, sub -commissioners and SSPs to personally ensure that the drops are administered – even by force if necessary.

Find out more: Sindh reports two new cases of polio

He also warned those responsible that neglect in the campaign would not be tolerated. “Any civil servant who does not show any performance will no longer be part of my team. I have already withdrawn the officers from the district health service and administration, and additional negligence will lead to more moves,” he warned.

Shah stressed that the next campaign of October 13 should be carried out in a “war” manner, covering the nomadic families of the Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions which are often missed due to migration. He urged the public to cooperate fully so that “their own children and the children of their neighbors remain without polio”.

During the September road, 216,664 children of the Sindh missed vaccination – 181 142 were not at home, while parents of 35,522 refused the declines, was informed of the meeting.

The CM ordered the AIF Hyder Shah chief secretary to prepare a plan to block the Sims, the identifiers and passports of refusal and ordered all the officials concerned to bring in progress towards him. “It is not only a government program, it is a fight for the health and the future of our children,” he concluded.