In further evidence that confirms India’s fear of importing polio virus from neighbouring countries, a recent study has revealed that a major chunk of children below three years in Pakistan and Afghanistan are not receiving the oral polio vaccine.
According to the study published in Lancet, experts found a sharp decline in the vaccine coverage from 2008 to 2011. According to Lancet, vaccine coverage in Balochistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and southern Afghanistan saw a significant decrease from 2006 to 2011.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are two of the three remaining countries yet to interrupt wild-type polio virus transmission. The experts noted that access to routine immunisation decreased in Balochistan and Fata in Pakistan, with just 25-33% of children under three years old reported to have received three or more doses of the oral polio vaccine through routine services in 2011.
Experts revealed that in 2011, 40% of children under three years in Balochistan and Fata in Pakistan and in southern Afghanistan were unprotected against the P1 strain — the wild strain of the polio virus.
Between January 1, 2001 and December 2011, there were 883 cases of P1: 710 in Pakistan and 173 in Afghanistan. “Pakistan reported the highest incidence of poliomyelitis in a decade. Over 60% of all cases in endemic countries and 34% of cases worldwide were recorded in Pakistan,” Lancet said.
Experts blamed “weak service delivery” for the affected polio eradication programme in Pakistan.