Mandatory polio shots at Pakistan airports

Saira Afzal Tarar, State Minister for Health Sciences Regulation and Coordination, said officials had yet to work out the details of when and how the policy would be implemented.

By (AFP)

Published: Thu 8 May 2014, 1:50 AM

Last updated: Tue 30 Jun 2020, 2:14 PM

Pakistan will set up mandatory immunisation points at airports to help stop its polio outbreak spreading abroad, officials said on Tuesday, though junior health minister said the move played into the Taleban’s hands.
The World Health Organisation warned on Monday that the crippling disease has re-emerged as a public health emergency — with the virus currently affecting 10 countries worldwide and endemic in three including Pakistan — and urged infected nations to implement vaccine requirements for all international travel. “Special measures will include establishing mandatory immunisation counters on all airports, border crossings and seaports for all travellers,” said Pakistani government spokesman Sajid Ali Shah.
Saira Afzal Tarar, State Minister for Health Sciences Regulation and Coordination, said officials had yet to work out the details of when and how the policy would be implemented.
“Passengers travelling abroad now should not worry about it,” she said, adding that the government would hold a meeting on Wednesday with provincial ministers and health officials to discuss the vaccination programme, and had already reached out to religious scholars.
But she accused the WHO of playing into the Taleban’s hands, saying the health body’s recommendations had isolated Pakistan and would make life harder for ordinary Pakistanis — thereby helping the militants achieve their goals.
“By recommending travel restrictions on Pakistan, the WHO has strengthened those forces who actually banned polio drops,” she said.
The Taleban and other militants violently oppose polio vaccination campaigns — seeing them as a cover for foreign spying — and regularly attack immunisation teams, killing some 56 people since December 2012.
Widespread public fears that the vaccine leads to infertility have also contributed to a re-emergence of the disease in Pakistan.
Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, according to the WHO, up from 58 in 2012. It has also recorded 59 of the world’s 74 cases this year.