KARACHI: During a week-long effort to combat the devastating disease in the country, at least 433 173 youngsters were denied anti-polio doses.

According to media sources citing the NIH, between March 23 and March 29, a week-long anti-polio campaign was undertaken during which 433,173 youngsters did not inhale drops for different reasons. 

According to sources, 377,166 youngsters were unavailable throughout the campaign, and the parents of 56,007 children denied giving their children anti-polio drops.

Polio Vaccines Denied in Sindh, Punjab, KP, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir

In Sindh, parents refused anti-polio teams access to 29,740 youngsters, while 96,295 children were unavailable.

In KP, the parents of 20,040 children refused anti-polio drops throughout the campaign, whereas 72,139 youngsters were unavailable.

In Balochistan, the rejection of 5,954 parents prevented 5,954 children from receiving anti-polio drops, whereas 68,349 youngsters were unavailable.

134,666 youngsters were unavailable during the Punjab anti-polio campaign.
 
In Gilgit-Baltistan, the parents of three children refused teams, while 345 youngsters were unavailable during the recruitment effort.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 91 children were denied shots against the devastating illness due to parental refusal, while 744 youngsters were unavailable during the week-long vaccination campaign in the region, according to reports.