Pakistani parents rebuff HPV vaccine

Misinformation plagues rollout for girls across nation as many claim the jab causes infertility, write Zain Zaman Janjua and Sameer Mandhro

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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.

The country’s first HPV vaccine campaign aimed to administer jabs to 11 million girls — but by the time it ended 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 onus, 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 unvaccinated, 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.