Pakistan - Polio - 'Making It Worse'

A Levies man escorting a polio team was killed in Bajaur agency, only a day after a massive campaign was launched to vaccinate as many as 225,000 children in the region. Quetta’s second polio case this year was diagnosed today, bringing the national polio count to 139 since the beginning of 2014, when only 34 cases were reported till September last year. Over 1600 polio workers have been recruited in the current campaign, and with 64 deaths since 2012, their protection can hardly be guaranteed. But the tribal regions also pose the most serious threat in the fight against polio, both in terms of attacks on polio workers, and with the highest number of cases reported than any other area in the country. This attack might even discourage workers in the current campaign to risk their lives in the face of increasing threat.

The situation gets even more complicated due to the arrival of the floods, which doctors say increases the chances of spreading the disease. Polio has two types of vaccines, an oral ‘live virus vaccine’ and an injected vaccine, made in the laboratory. The former is the one used in Pakistan, and is created from the virus itself, to make one’s body immune. In very rare cases (the chances are one in a million) that oral vaccine can be the cause of paralysis. The WHO predicts that as the spread of the virus is curtailed even further, a time will come when wild strains of the virus will be eradicated, but new cases will be caused by the oral vaccine. Which is why they have set a timeline for the last three countries to shift to the lab-made injected version by 2017. Given the hesitation of parents in far-flung areas to get their children vaccinated, how will the Pakistani government change this mindset in just three years, and convince them to use a vaccine that will inevitably be viewed with even more suspicion than the one administered orally?

This year has seen the virus fight back with renewed vigour, while logistical issues, attacks on workers and the reluctance of the public to take the vaccine has caused a resurgence of new cases in Pakistan. Even Punjab, which was deemed free from polio in 2013, is no longer safe. The floods might just bring additions to the tally. Out of a population of 196 million, over 34 million are children and hence vulnerable. Unless the next four months see the government taking more of an interest into the problem (which is unlikely), Pakistan is only putting its childer at risk.