Anti-polio drive to be re-launched soon in Bara

BARA: The anti-polio campaign would soon be re-launched in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters here, Political Agent of Khyber Agency Khalid Mehmood said the political administration and the agency surgeon had received the inquiry report into the death of four children who died after being vaccinated against measles in Bara.

“The polio drops and measles vaccine didn’t contain anything harmful,” he said. However, he didn’t disclose the cause behind the deaths of the children.

He said some elements spread propaganda among the tribespeople to hobble efforts to eradicate polio, which can paralyse an unvaccinated child forever. The official said that Khyber Agency didn’t report any confirmed polio case in 2015-16 due to the efforts of the vaccinators and concerned staff. Khalid Mehmood urged the people to cooperate with polio teams to save their children from disability.

To a question, he said the political administration would soon start distributing compensation cheques among the tribesmen, whose houses were damaged in acts of subversion.

“At least 402 tribesmen belonging to Tirah and Bara have received compensation so far,|” he said. Four children had died during the anti-polio drive in December last that led to the suspension of the drive as most of the parents refused to get children vaccinated.

There were rumours that polio vaccine had caused the deaths of the children and an inquiry was subsequently launched to probe the matter.Assistant political agent Bara tehsil Muhammad Arif was also present on the occasion.