Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has indicated that the provincial government may resort to strict measures, including blocking mobile SIM cards and suspending national identity documents, for parents who continue to refuse polio vaccination for their children. Chairing a meeting on polio eradication at the CM House in Karachi, he said the refusal to vaccinate was undermining national efforts and posed a danger to the wider community. A statement from the CM’s office on Friday quoted him as saying that parents unwilling to vaccinate were shirking a national duty and leaving not only their children vulnerable but also putting others at risk of the virus. He directed Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah to prepare a plan that could be implemented to restrict access to SIMs, CNICs, and passports for such individuals.
The CM announced the creation of a Polio Vaccine Refusal Cell at the CM House to gather data on households refusing vaccination. The cell will receive union council-level information and will work with local administrations, political representatives, and social networks to convince families to vaccinate. Officials at the meeting were told that while efforts continue across the province, new polio cases are still emerging, particularly from border areas. Expressing dissatisfaction with the performance of some departments, Murad Ali Shah said officers who failed to deliver would not remain in his administration. He reminded the meeting that some officials in the health department and local administrations had already been removed for underperformance in this campaign.
Sindh reported two new cases of polio last month, taking the provincial total to nine this year. Across Pakistan, 29 cases have been reported so far, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recording the highest at 18, followed by Sindh with nine, and Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir reporting one case each. The CM stressed that vaccination drives must cover all nomadic families, including those living in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions, where movement between areas often results in missed immunizations. He said reaching these groups would be critical to stopping the spread of the virus, as many cases were being reported from families traveling through border districts.
The proposed strategy to link health compliance with access to essential digital and identification services marks a significant step in leveraging administrative and technological measures to encourage public participation in immunization programs. Blocking mobile SIMs would directly affect daily communications, while suspending CNICs and passports could restrict financial transactions, travel, and access to government services. While such measures would be seen as strict, officials in Sindh argue that they may be necessary to achieve eradication goals. Pakistan remains one of the few countries in the world still reporting polio cases, making the eradication campaign a top health priority.
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