Shadowing the progress achieved against the deadly virus so far, two new polio cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.
With this, the total number of cases has risen to eight, this year so far. According to sources within the polio eradication program, the first case was reported in a 22-month-old boy, Hamza, in Bannu. Another was said to be detected in a two-year-old girl in South Waziristan. They claimed, “The parents of the aforesaid children denied administering anti-polio drops to their toddlers during the campaign against this crippling disease of polio in their respective areas.” It should be mention that earlier on Monday, panic struck Peshawar as rumours of poliovirus vaccination causing children to faint spread like wildfire. Later, the authorities denied rumours as false while arresting the accused behind the theatrics. A video of the accused employing children to prove fault in polio vaccines also made rounds on social media. He was seen administering polio drops to children, following which they were asked to pretend to faint. A First Information Report (FIR) was also lodged against 12 individuals over the propaganda against the polio campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.