A federal health department official says only around half of the intended vaccines have been administered
ISLAMABAD: 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 aimed to administer HPV vaccine jabs to 11 million girls, but by Saturday’s end, health workers had administered only about half the intended doses.”
A long-standing conspiracy theory that Western-produced vaccines are used to curb the population has been circulating online in Pakistan.
Misinformation has also spread that the vaccine disrupts the hormones of young girls.
“Some people have refused, closed their gates on us, 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.
“A federal health department official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that health workers administered only around half the intended vaccines.”
On Friday, they said many girls remain unvaccinated, but they commit to keeping the vaccine available after the campaign ends to ensure more women and girls receive vaccinations.
“One teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity that parents would not give consent, so her school on the outskirts of Rawalpindi did not administer a single vaccine. She added that other rural schools experienced the same issue.”
A health official who asked not to be named said some private schools closed for several days to avoid vaccine workers.
“On the first day we reached 29% of our target, it was not good, but it was fine,” said Syeda Rashida Batool, Islamabad’s top health official, who started the campaign by inoculating her daughter.
“The evening of that first day, videos started circulating online, and after that, it dipped. It all changed.”
“Several years ago, tear gas wafted into a classroom during a protest, causing schoolgirls to double over in pain. Someone then reshared the video online, falsely claiming it showed the vaccine’s after-effects.”
Last week, Rashid Mehmood Soomro, a popular leader of a right-wing party, claimed the government was forcing the voluntary vaccine on girls.
“In reality, our daughters are being made infertile,” he told a rally in Karachi.
‘Population control’
“Persistent infection with Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a virus that spreads through sexual activity, including non-penetrative sex, causes 95% of cervical cancer cases.”
The HPV vaccine, approved by the World Health Organisation, is a safe and science-based protection against cervical cancer and has a long history of saving lives in more than 150 countries.
Cervical cancer kills a disproportionate number of women in low- and middle-income countries like Pakistan. UNICEF reports that around two-thirds of the 5,000 women diagnosed annually will die, although healthcare limitations likely cause under-reporting.
This is because of a significant lack of awareness around the disease, cultural taboos around sexual health, and poor screening and treatment services.
“This damaging belief assumes only women with many sexual partners can contract sexually transmitted infections.”
In Europe, where the HPV vaccine has been highly effective, there were around 30,000 diagnoses across all 27 EU nations in 2020, of which around one-third of women died, according to the European Commission.
“My husband won’t allow it,” said Maryam Bibi, a 30-year-old mother in Karachi who told AFP that she would not vaccinate her three daughters.
“It is being said that this vaccine will make children infertile. This will control the population”.
Humna Saleem, a 42-year-old housewife in Lahore, said she thought the vaccine was “unnecessary”.
“All cancers are terrible. She told AFP, “Why don’t we tell our boys to be loyal to their wives instead of telling our girls to get more vaccines?”
Pakistan — one of only two countries, along with Afghanistan, where polio is endemic — remains stubbornly resistant to vaccines as a result of misinformation and conspiracy theories.
After marking one year without polio cases for the first time in 2023, the crippling disease has resurged with 27 cases reported in 2025 so far.
In response to overwhelming misinformation about the HPV vaccine, Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal took the bold move to have his teenage daughter vaccinated in front of television cameras.
“In my 30-year political career, I have never made my family public,” he told reporters.
“But the way my daughter is dear to me, the nation’s daughters are also dear to me, so I brought her in front of the media.”
About The Author
