EDITORIAL: The resurgence of polio in Pakistan is a damning indictment of the state’s failure to construct a cohesive national narrative that prioritises public health.
That the government still struggles to ensure nationwide vaccinations in 2025 — despite decades of local and international efforts — exposes a systemic failure to confront the far-right lobby that has successfully peddled fear and misinformation against immunisation.
Instead of taking a firm stand against the regressive propaganda that equates polio drops with infertility or foreign conspiracies, successive administrations have simply failed to take all the proactive steps necessary to eradicate the disease. The consequence is a national embarrassment: Pakistan remains one of the last two countries on earth where the poliovirus is still endemic.
The latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and local health authorities paints a dire picture. Pakistan’s polio eradication programme is facing setbacks due to growing vaccine refusals, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where extremist narratives against immunisation have been allowed to flourish unchecked.
This is not a new phenomenon. Religious hardliners have long framed vaccines as a ploy to sterilise Muslim populations — an entirely baseless yet deeply entrenched claim.
That such myths continue to gain traction in certain segments of society is not just a failure of public awareness campaigns but a direct consequence of the state’s refusal to aggressively counter disinformation at its source.
Instead of shaping an overarching narrative that emphasises the religious and social duty of protecting children from preventable diseases, the state has remained on the defensive, attempting to coax parents into compliance rather than dismantling the root causes of vaccine hesitancy.
It is telling that in a country where religious leaders frequently shape public opinion, successive governments have failed to enlist these same figures in the fight against polio. When authorities in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and even Afghanistan have successfully incorporated Islamic scholars into public health campaigns, why has Pakistan struggled to do the same? The answer is simple: lack of political will. This calculated silence has a cost — one measured in the lives of children who will suffer lifelong paralysis due to preventable diseases.
The state must stop treating polio eradication as a logistical challenge alone. This is not just about deploying health workers under armed escort in high-risk areas or improving vaccine cold chains. Now, the battle against polio is first and foremost a battle of narratives.
It requires a relentless, unapologetic messaging campaign — one that leaves no room for ambiguity about the safety and necessity of immunisation. If the government can mobilise media resources to push political propaganda, why is there no comparable effort to counter the pseudoscience that threatens public health?
Moreover, if vaccine refusals are rooted in mistrust of the government, then the onus is on the state to restore confidence through consistent, transparent, and community-driven engagement.
This means bringing religious scholars on board, launching grassroots education initiatives, and ensuring that law enforcement supports — rather than undermines — health workers on the ground. It also means refusing to cede ideological ground to extremist voices that weaponise religious sentiment for political gains.
Pakistan’s struggle against polio is not merely a fight against a virus; it is a fight against ignorance, fear, and state inaction in the face of misinformation. The fact that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries still battling polio is an unforgivable failure.
Afghanistan has suffered through four decades of war, making nationwide immunisation a logistical impossibility. Pakistan, however, has no such excuse. If the government continues to prioritise short-term convenience over long-term eradication, Pakistan will remain trapped in an endless cycle of outbreaks, international travel restrictions, and, most tragically, avoidable suffering for its youngest and most vulnerable citizens. The time for half-measures is over — either the state takes control of the narrative, or it continues to surrender to those who peddle lies in the name of faith.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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