Polio Drops Rumour: Frantic mothers rush their kids to hospitals

Pulwama: Panic gripped Kashmir after children who were administered pulse-polio vaccines allegedly developed medical symptoms like vomiting.

“Women were seen crying and rushing towards sub district hospital,” said a resident of Pampore town Jahangeer Ahmad. “Rumours spread in the area that the pulse-polio vaccine administered to children were expired,” adds Jahangeer.

An official at Director Health Services Kashmir said that the CMO of Pulwama District reached the spot to look into the matter. “As per the initial investigation the reason for development of such symptoms among the children was not because of pulse-polio vaccines administered to them,” the official of the directorate said.

The official maintained that they will make the results of their investigations public but insisted the polio drops were not expired.

However, in Pampore the “rumours” threw life out of gear. “There was traffic jam and women were carrying their kids, crying and rushing towards the hospital,” one resident said.

Reports said some kids in Kandizal and Khaimoh belt reported vomiting and that was the source of panic. Then scores of vehicles were driving their kids to the state run Children’s Hospital in Srinagar.
The panic was spreading to new areas.

A caller from Chanpora told that there were public announcements going on from mosques asking parents to go for another protective dose of drops. He, however, was not knowing who was making the announcements.

Zahoor Ragi, PRO to Director Health said there was not a single case in which a polio administered kid had adversely reacted to the vaccine. “This was just a rumour,” Ragi said.