VIDEO: Conspiracy to defame Peshawar anti-polio drive exposed

PESHAWAR: The alleged conspiracy to defame the anti-polio campaign in Peshawar was exposed late night on Monday, ARY News reported.

A video doing rounds on social media showed a man using children to prove polio vaccine defected.

He administers children polio drops, following which the children are asked to pretend to be fainted. He can be heard asking the children to lie down on the stretcher, following which all the children, standing on their feet till moments ago, start falling on the hospital bed.

When one of the children raises his head, he is again told by the man in the video to keep head down and pretend. The children otherwise seem to be totally fine in the video.

A three-day polio campaign was launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including tribal areas. This campaign will target 7.6 million children across the province including 1.6 million those who are between 5 and 10 years of age.

This is for the first time that older kids are also being administered polio drops for Peshawar has been very vulnerable to polio disease.

But Peshawar was gripped in panic Monday morning as rumours spread like a wildfire that the anti-polio vaccine had caused children fall ill and faint in several areas of the city.

It was reported that at least 700 schoolchildren fell sick after polio vaccination in Peshawar causing an attack on a hospital in city by angry mob.

An angry mob resorted to rioting at Mashokhel Hospital in Badha Beer area of Peshawar after several children allegedly fell sick after being administered polio vaccine.

A heavy contingent of police reached to the spot and controlled the unrest.

A provincial minister relayed that 25,000 children were brought to hospitals after rumours were spread that the children who had been administered polio drops needed medical checkup.

Information Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shaukat Yousafzai, on Monday evening dismissed reports against anti-polio vaccines and affirmed there was no defect in the vaccines.

In a statement, Yousafzai said there was no problem in the vaccines as being reported. “This is the same vaccine given to children countrywide.”

He said a particular lobby was active against the government and trying to foil an important anti-polio drive.

The minister all children who were brought to the hospital were safe and sound. He said Peshawar has been ranked as a vulnerable city in terms of polio cases.