Pakistan arrests parents for refusing children's polio vaccinations

By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan authorities have arrested hundreds of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against polio, officials said Tuesday, as community opposition and Taliban threats block efforts to eradicate the crippling disease in one of its last strongholds. Frustrated officials turned to police to deal with parents influenced by some clerics who decry government vaccination campaigns as a tool to weaken Islam, according to Pervez Kamal, director of health for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region in the northwest. Pakistan reported 306 polio cases last year, far and away the largest share of the 359 cases worldwide recorded by the Global Eradicate Polio Initiative. Once a common childhood disease, polio - which can cause paralysis and mostly affects children under age five - has declined by 99 percent in the last 25 years with aggressive vaccination campaigns, according to the WHO.



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