Constraints/hurdles behind polio vaccination

By Syed Tahir Ali Shah

Poliomyelitis sometimes called polio or infantile paralysis of children is an infectious disease caused by poliovirus. This is a contagious and the most deadly disease of children. It is usually spread through fecal route. It is a RNA single strand virus and has a unique characteristic that only affects human beings.

In children, it may be found in various forms such as asymmetric or bulbar and most of the time the combination of asymmetric and bulbar. Polio most of time effect the spinal cord and the brain stem which is basic and essential part Homo sapiens. Now what happened to people what are their thinking what are their mindsets, what are their point of view about polio vaccines.

Why they are feeling insecure about the vaccines it’s become curiosity for everyone to know about it. Is the rumors about the polio vaccines is true, that it is a conspiracy of Jews and non-Muslims against Muslims or its true about it that it causes sterility and makes the Muslims population under control or it makes the Muslims impotent.

And some people also say that in Pakistan there is no laboratory where it has been checked and its formula is unknown and nothing is written on the boxes of these vaccines. These are socially and culturally misleading ideas of some people which are effecting most of  the innocent and illiterate people.

The National Institute of Research Foundation Islamabad has tested the polio vaccines and found nothing negative about it. The formula of vaccines here is polio vaccine IPV, is based on three wild, virulent reference strains, (Mahoney (type 1 poliovirus), MEF-1(type 2 poliovirus), Saukett (type 3 poliovirus), grown in a type of monkey kidney tissue culture (Vero cell line), which are then inactivated with formalin).

If the polio vaccines have any negativity then the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Islamic republic of Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Indonesia and China would have never done polio vaccination and the population of these countries would have tremendously decreased.

The sin of making up rumors, “O’ you who have true faith! If one who publicly and openly commits sins brings you any news (concerning another person) then ascertain its truthfulness carefully (before you spread it) lest you harm people through (your own) ignorance (through accepting and following false reports) and then regret what you have done.”

 

(The writer is student at Department of Sociology, Peshawar University).