PESHAWAR: Angry rioters broke down the main gate and set fire to the Mashokhel Hospital in response to unfounded claims that 40 children fell sick after being administered anti-polio drops.
Dispelling rumours that the children had been given an unsafe medicine, Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) Coordinator Kamran Afridi said, “There can be no reaction to the anti-polio vaccine. The vaccine was not expired and the condition of all the children is normal.”
“Doctors also said the children did not get a reaction from the vaccine. There are parents in Masho Khel who do not want to administer the drops to their children and they could have felt sick owing to other reasons,” Afridi added.
A Hayatabad Medical Complex spokesperson said that the children had just complained of dizziness and were otherwise doing fine.
A nationwide campaign to deliver anti-polio drops began today (April 22nd).
National Coordinator of Polio Eradication Programme Dr Rana Safdar informed Radio Pakistan, Islamabad that the anti-polio drive aims to target 39 million children in all four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.