WHO Travel Restrictions for Pakistanis Come into Force

All the travelers from Pakistan are required to carry a certificate of polio vaccination as recommended by World Health Organization. The other two countries which were also included in the list of states with high risk of transmission of polio to other countries are Syria and Cameroon.

Pakistan has arranged counters on international airports for the travelers to obtain the polio vaccination certificates. However, the WHO recommendations do require travelers to receive the vaccination at least 4 weeks prior to starting their journey.

Pakistan foreign office have claimed that WHO did not impose restrictions and only recommended the vaccination measures to minimize the spread of the polio in other parts of the world. Polio does not have a cure, however, it can be prevented using the available vaccinations.

Polio vaccination program integrity was seriously jeopardize after find that a Pakistani doctor responsible for the polio vaccination program used it to collect DNA samples for USA secret agencies to trace the most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden.

There is also a wide spread belief among masses that polio vaccination effects the male fertility which has also affected the polio eradication campaign in Pakistan.

However, these should not have been excuses to let parents decide not to vaccinate their children. In many areas of Pakistan, a number of polio workers were killed by the terrorists who believed that it is better to have a nation with crippled children. Government also failed to provide protection to the polio workers and punish those who refused to get their children vaccinated.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=44751

Posted by Maleeha Tareen on Jun 1 2014. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.