Pakistan to 'extend' national cervical cancer vaccination drive

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has decided to extend the duration of the national cervical cancer prevention campaign after provinces reported falling short of vaccination targets, ARY News reported on Sunday, citing sources.

According to officials, Punjab, Sindh, Azad Kashmir, and Islamabad will extend their HPV vaccination campaigns.

The Sindh government has already decided to prolong its campaign by three days, pushing the deadline to September 30.

The province is expected to notify the federal government of its decision tomorrow formally.

In Islamabad, health authorities are considering extending the campaign by three to seven days, while Punjab and Azad Kashmir are also expected to grant extensions within the same range.

The historic nationwide HPV campaign — the first of its kind in Pakistan — was initially launched from September 15 to 27, aiming to vaccinate more than 11.7 million girls.

Sources said the decision to extend the campaign reflects both provincial appeals and the urgent need to achieve immunization targets critical to protecting women against cervical cancer.

Read more: Over three million parents refuse cervical cancer vaccination

Over three million vaccine refusal cases have been reported during the first-ever national HPV vaccination campaign’s nine days, sources said on Saturday.

The HPV vaccination campaign for prevention of cervical cancer in women has been started from September 15 in Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and it will continue until 27.

A single-dose vaccine to be administered targeting 13 million girls aged 9 to 14 during the campaign.

Sources said that total 30,40,475 cases of the HPV vaccine refusal have been reported during the nine days of the campaign so far.

Most of the vaccine refusal cases have been reported in Punjab, where 21,95,793 people refused the vaccine.

In Sindh, 6,59,997 parents refused HPV vaccination to their girls, according to sources. In Azad Kashmir 1,27,229 and in Islamabad 58,456 parents refused HPV vaccination.

The national HPV vaccination campaign has a set target of 1,17,29,787 girls’ vaccination during the drive, sources said.