ISLAMABAD – Pakistan urged Facebook to remove harmful polio-relatedcontent from the social networking site on Friday, saying it wasjeopardizing eradication initiatives and putting the lives of vaccinatorsat risk.
In recent months Pakistani social media has been inundated with fake newsreports and videos — garnering thousands of views and shares in the lastweek alone claiming numerous children have been killed by the polio vaccine.
Thousands of parents have refused to allow their children to be inoculated.
Polio vaccination campaigns have faced stubborn resistance for years inPakistan.
“The parental refusals due to propaganda on Facebook regarding the vaccineis emerging as the major obstacle in achieving complete eradication of thevirus,” Babar Atta, who is helping oversee the country’s vaccination drive,said in a statement.
Atta has requested “Facebook’s management to block and/or manage thedissemination of such anti vaccination propaganda from their platformsoperating from within Pakistan”.
At least three people were killed in the last country-wide anti-poliocampaign in April.
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The violence coincided with an outbreak of hysteria in cities acrossnorthwest Pakistan after rumors of children suffering from adversereactions to a polio vaccine sparked panic, with tens of thousands rushedto hospitals.
Last week, around 10,000 vaccination refusals were reported per day inIslamabad, compared to 200 to 300 during the previous campaign, accordingto figures from the country’s anti-polio program.
Despite the opposition, campaigners have reported progress with tens ofmillions of children vaccinated across the country along with a 96 percentdrop in reported polio cases since 2014.
But as Pakistan nears its goal of ridding polio from its territory, newheadwinds have arisen amid a growing global movement against inoculation.
In addition to Pakistan, Polio is endemic in two other countries globally– Afghanistan and Nigeria — although a relatively rare strain was alsodetected in Papua New Guinea last year. -APP/AFP
