Pakistani parents rebuff HPV vaccine over infertility fears

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

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The country's first HPV vaccine campaign aimed to administer jabs to II 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," vaccinator Ambreen Zehra told AFP while going door to door in a lower-middle-income neighbourhood in Karachi.

Only around half the intended vaccines had been administered, according to a federal health department official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Many girls we aimed to reach are still un-vaccinated, but we are committed to ensuring the vaccine remains available even after the campaign concludes so that more women and girls get vaccinated," they said on Friday.