HYDERABAD: Polio teams are focusing on chronic refusal cases in Hyderabad during the ongoing seven-day Sub National Immunisation Days (SNID) for eradication of poliovirus that started on Monday.

Hence, two men were arrested for persistently refusing to comply with government’s directives for vaccination of children against poliovirus and in another case a woman quarreled with female staff of the team including a policewoman, said Deputy Commissioner Zain Ul Abiden Memon.

Official figures show 168,351 (42 per cent) children have been vaccinated over the past two days – Monday and Tuesday – against a target of 400,837. The teams were focusing on the 1311 refusal cases that came up during campaign in July this year.

“We took two men into custody after they refused to get their children of five years vaccinated,” said the DC.

Two men held, as many schools sealed over refusal to have children vaccinated

He said that two Union Committees of Hussainabad had 28 refusal cases until July this year but now they had zero such cases. One Ashar Ali and Ghayoor – both residents of Latifabad taluka – were arrested by police under DC’s directives. Ghayoor was let off after he tendered a written apology.

“Ghayoor was arguing that he will get his children vaccinated once Gaza war comes to an end. He was not allowing three children including a three months old baby to be vaccinated during the last five campaigns this year.

“Ghayoor was so adamant that he even asked me to get his passport blocked but he won’t have his children vaccinated,” he said. At last, he had to be taken into custody and his children were then vaccinated in his house, he said.

Ashar Ali’s family in Latifabad was refusing polio drops to his children. “Each time polio teams visited the family they were told the children had gone to Mirpurkhas and Ashar Ali was not present at home,” said the DC.

Finally, Asghar Ali’s father was detained on Tuesday and he was informed about his detention accordingly. “Ashar was not in Mirpurkhas but present at his workplace in Qasimabad and he rushed to his house upon learning about his father’s arrest,” he said.

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In another case, an educated man in Sadaat Colony Latifabad namely Fahad argued on the basis of a study that polio drop would cause change in chromosomes which meant his son Dawood would only have baby girls in his life.

“I had to show him a video of my own son being administered polio drops by myself, and only then he agreed to allow vaccination,” he said.

According to the DC, wife of an advocate living in the same area, quarreled with polio team members when they visited her. The woman had four children in addition to four other children of her guests at her home.

Female polio workers and a policewoman went inside and vaccinated all the eight children regardless of the woman’s quarreling. “The trouble started when the seventh child was being vaccinated and she started arguing with them loudly that these drops cause so many issues and kept raising hue and cry,” said the DC.

Later on, the woman’s husband intervened and resolved the matter amicably.

Two schools were also sealed by district administration when the school managements took the stand before visiting polio teams that the children could be vaccinated only after obtaining their parents’ consent.

“When we sealed their schools they called the children’s parents who then gave their consent to the vaccination,” Zain stated.

According to him, the localities which reported frequent refusal cases make a cohort and then they start contributing to poliovirus’s spread.

Since November 2023, environmental sample of poliovirus in Hyderabad has remained positive. The sample is collected for analysis in the first week of the month.

A 29-month-old girl was affected by poliovirus in Liaquat Colony this August, raising alarm bells in government and health department. Hence, they put in extra efforts to contain spread of the crippling virus.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2024