• Declares immunisation gap a national public health emergency• Blames governance failures, corruption, weak immunisation system• Calls for an immediate audit of provincial health funds
KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association has issued an urgent national red alert after clinical and epidemiological data revealed that Pakistan holds a catastrophically high volume of “zero-dose” children in the World Health Organisation’s Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Zero-dose children are those who have not received the first dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP1).
With 651,000 infants completely bypassed by routine immunisation systems, the representative body of the medical fraternity warns that the country is sitting on an epidemiological powder keg, facing an imminent, large-scale resurgence of preventable childhood mortality.
The association formally declared the milestone a National Public Health Emergency, warning that the immunity gap has breached the threshold required to maintain herd immunity, exposing the entire region to uncontrolled outbreaks.
