PESHAWAR, Nov 1: Exposing the inefficacy of oral polio vaccine (OPV), a Swabi child has tested positive for polio despite being administered seven doses of vaccines over a period of time, health officials said here on Tuesday.
Official sources told Dawn that the National Institute of Health, Islamabad had found poliovirus in the blood of Asif Khan, 27-month-old son of Azeem Shah, a resident Narangi in Razar tehsil of Swabi district.
According to them, also in the day, reported another new polio case in North Waziristan agency, taking the number of children hit by the crippling disease this year to 12 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 38 in Fata and 136 in the country.
The officials said nearly half of the new cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata had contracted polio despite receiving OPV raising doubts in the people`s minds about its efficacy.
They feared that the people living in the areas where such cases were reported might turn vaccinators away.
Officials said only five of the seven new polio cases in the province couldn`t be given polio drops due to their parents` refusal for one reason or the other, adding that the remaining received up to seven doses of vaccines.