Fake social media messages on vaccines stalled Pakistan’s anti-polio campaign and how the country is unable to get rid of ongoing wild polio virus transmission.

A video has been shared thousands of times on social media which claim that more than 70 children died after being vaccinated for polio. It was viewed 15, 256 times on its YouTube page and this video has gained popularity in Pakistan since April 2019.

It all started, when in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan, a video surfaced on social media in which a man showed that children are falling sick after receiving an anti-polio vaccine. Within minutes of it, the local mosques made announcements not to vaccinate their children. Further, the religious hardliners fanned the rumours by declaring that vaccines contain the components that are forbidden in Islam and also cause infertility.

These rumours were enough to create fear and panic among masses and it resulted in the hospitalisation of thousands of children.

Later, the provincial health minister Hisham Inamullah had to release a video on the Facebook account of PTI Media to clarify that the forwarded video in question had no relevance and that no child ever died due to anti-polio vaccination in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Pakistan is one of the only three countries in the world with ongoing wild polio virus transmission, alongside Afghanistan and Nigeria”. Last year, Pakistan saw twelve polio cases, but this year it has gone up to sixty-two. WHO says that “WHO and partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is committed to fully support the Government of Pakistan to tackle polio in last strongholds and get rid of this debilitating disease for good.” By the end of July 2019, approximately 5 million children were vaccinated.

To overcome the fear and misconceptions, the country’s National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) released a video statement by Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio, Babar Bin Atta, in which he appealed to parents that the Peshawar polio drama created misconception due to which population of far-flung areas of KP are still reluctant to vaccinate their children. Parents should be aware that there is no cure for polio once the damage is done.

“Our government, media and private sector are doing a commendable job of combating fake news and dispel myths,” says Dr Safieh Shah, public health advocate specialising in public health policy from Pakistan. Further, she points out that the Health Ministry, led by the focal person of Pakistan along with the military, is taking necessary measures to stamp out the fake news on social media.

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