Pakistan has reason to celebrate, what with only one case of polio being recorded this year, as was noted with some satisfaction on Sunday, which was World Polio Day. Perhaps the outbreak of a couple of years before was reflective of the initial confusion in the government on this issue, but it seems that the change of Focal Person has made enough of a difference, and allowed the country to see light at the end of the tunnel. Most encouraging of all is the fact that the wild virus is longer found, which is an indication that once person-to-person transmission is stopped by widespread vaccination, the disease may be eliminated. After the elimination of polio in Pakistan, Afghanistan would be left as the only country where the disease was present.
Therein lies a danger for Pakistan. Polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan have received a setback from the instability there, particularly after the Taliban takeover there, because aid agencies working on polio eradication have withdrawn their workers for safety reasons. Apart from vaccinations, the presence of wild polio viruses are expected to proliferate there. With a full-blown economic crisis facing the Taliban, it may be too much to ask that they focus on polio eradication, but that should not mean that Pakistan should be re-infected. That would mean more stringent border controls than presently exist.
Pakistan has domestic problems too. First all, it must ensure full coverage of its children. The anti-vaxxers have by no means disappeared, and indeed can be expected to be strengthened in Afghanistan, making for a toxic mess with a potential for spillover here. The problem in Pakistan is that it faces so many other crises that the government may not give the problem the attention it deserves, and thus prevents the country from being part of a historic achievement for all Mankind. But until that is achieved, there must be no let-up in the intensity of vaccination drives. One of the problems created by the delay is the birth of another generation of susceptible children, who must be vaccinated lest they become the unwitting cause of the survival of the poliovirus. Their vaccination must be a priority for the government, as this crisis is perhaps bigger than others, for its toll is to be counted in crippled citizens who will be around for an average of three-quarters of a century.
