PESHAWAR, Aug 5: Polio vaccinators failed to reach 313,386 children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the recent three-day immunisation campaign, according to a World Health Organisation monitoring report.

The report seen by Dawn said oral polio vaccine (OPV) couldn’t be administered to 2.1 million children in the country from July 16 to July 18 due to the vaccinators’ inability to access their areas or opposition by their parents.

It put the number of nationwide immunisation refusal cases at 82,000.

Earlier last week, the expanded programme on immunisation claimed in a report that 584,046 children couldn’t be vaccination in the campaign as 528,271 of them missed vaccination and parents of 55,775 sent vaccinators away.

When contacted, WHO senior coordinator Dr Elias Durry said it was for the first time, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had recorded a lower number of immunisation refusal cases (22,000) compared to Sindh (33,780).

He said 443,231 children missed polio vaccination in Sindh, while such children totaled 313,386 in KP.

“This data reflects registered cases only. The actual burden of immunisation refusal and missed cases is likely to be much higher,” he said.