Pakistan To ‘Extend’ National Cervical Cancer Vaccination Drive
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to extend the duration of Pakistan’s first-ever national cervical cancer prevention campaign after several provinces failed to meet vaccination targets, ARY News reported on Sunday, citing official sources.
According to details, Punjab, Sindh, Azad Kashmir, and Islamabad will extend their HPV vaccination drives. Sindh has already added three extra days, pushing its deadline to September 30, while Punjab, AJK, and Islamabad are considering extensions of three to seven days. Formal notifications are expected soon.
Launched on September 15, the historic HPV vaccination campaign aimed to immunize more than 11.7 million girls aged 9 to 14 by September 27. However, officials said the extensions are necessary to help provinces reach their targets and protect women against cervical cancer.
Despite progress, vaccine refusals remain a major hurdle. Over 3 million parents have declined the vaccine for their daughters during the campaign’s first nine days. Punjab reported the highest number of refusals with 2,195,793 cases, followed by 659,997 in Sindh, 127,229 in AJK, and 58,456 in Islamabad.
The campaign originally targeted 11,729,787 girls, with a single-dose HPV vaccine being administered nationwide. Authorities stressed that meeting this target is vital to safeguarding women’s health and reducing cervical cancer risks in Pakistan.
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