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. “The eradication of poliomyelitis in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan has been complicated by armed conflict, security concerns (e.g., areas being inaccessible to vaccination teams because of security concerns, and the movement of families to escape potential conflict), cultural barriers, and natural disasters that have limited accessibility of vaccination teams to target populations,” it said.