Over 4000 polio vaccine refusal cases in Pak's Balochistan

Over 4,000 cases of refusal of polio vaccination have been recorded in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, officials said.
The list of parents refusing vaccine for their children has been thoroughly documented, said Dr Syed Saif Ur Rehman, Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Cell Balochistan.
At least 4,443 cases of refusal vaccination refusal were recorded in Balochistan's Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah districts, Dawn reported.
The children who were documented will be administered polio vaccines.
Rehman has said there were 44 per cent refusal cases out of total 25 polio virus cases reported in 2014 in Balochistan, while this year three out of five reported cases are refusals which make more than 50 per cent.

The year 2014 has been the toughest year for Pakistan's anti-polio programme as the number of confirmed cases reached 297, the highest in the country since 1999.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world which have not been able to eradicate the polio-virus while no case of polio virus was reported in Nigeria over a year.
Refusal on the part of some parents and attacks at polio workers and volunteers remain the main reasons behind failure to eliminate the virus. Polio campaigns are usually postponed and suspended owing to security reasons in Quetta.
The government had declared a polio emergency throughout the province to root out the crippling virus from the region.

Many people in Pakistan consider polio medicine as a conspiracy by the West to sterile Muslims.