Poliovirus found in Rawalpindi sewage

A four-day anti-polio campaign will be conducted in Rawalpindi from Sept 21 to 24 under the District Health Authority. The claim by the district administration and health department that Rawalpindi had been completely cleared of polio virus has proved incorrect, as sampling conducted in the city with UNICEF's support confirmed the presence of polio virus in Rawalpindi's sewage, causing concern among the health department and administration. Meanwhile, an increase has also been recorded in the number of families in Rawalpindi district refusing to administer polio drops to their children. Earlier, the health department and district administration used to attribute the refusal to Afghan refugee families. However, after all Afghan families were deported from Rawalpindi, the number of refusing families increased instead of declining, exposing the health department's misrepresentation. Interestingly, the number of families from affluent areas is higher among those refusing vaccination. The administration has now started shifting the blame for its failure to cover refusing families onto Kashmiri families.