Viral lies threaten protection

PAKISTAN: HPV VACCINE ROLL-OUT STALLS AS INFERTILITY MYTHS, MORAL PANIC GRIP COMMUNITIES

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ONE DOSE AT A TIME. A health worker administers human papillomavirus vaccine to a girl in Karachi during a vaccination drive against cervical cancer.

(AFP)

Misinformation plagued the first roll-out of a vaccine to protect Pakistani girls against cervical cancer, with parents slamming their doors on health care workers and some schools shutting for days over false claims it causes infertility.

The country's first human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine campaign aimed to administer jabs to 11 million girls - but by the time it ended on Saturday, only around half the intended doses were administered.

A longstanding conspiracy theory that Western-produced vaccines are used to curb the Muslim population has been circulating online in Pakistan.

Misinformation has also spread that the vaccine disrupts the hormones of young girls and encourages sexual activity, in a country where sex before marriage is forbidden.

"Some people have refused, closed their gates on us, and even hid information about their daughter's age," said vaccinator Ambreen Zehra, while going door to door in a lower-middle-income neighbourhood in Karachi.