Bahawalnagar: The Bahawalpur region, including Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan, cannot even achieve half of the goal of conducting a 13-day campaign for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which is officially ending on Saturday (today).
Available copies based on the data given in the special branch report dawnin the campaign in the region from September 15 to September 27, the total target was 935,390, of which only 452.094 girls were vaccinated, accounting for only 48% of the target vaccine. However, it added that there is no region in Punjab that can achieve its goals.
The vaccination targets for female students in Bahawalpur in three regions, Bahawal Nagar and Rahim Yar Khan are 299,043, 248,600 and 387,747, respectively. However, Bahawalpur reached 52% (156,586), Rahim Yar Khan 49% (189,078) and Bahawalnagar achieved only 43% (106,430) or its target.
Promotional and written consent
Intelligence sources told dawn The drive began traversing through Punjab on September 15, slowing down shortly after its launch due to negative and misleading social media publicity. Furthermore, despite the warning from intelligence agencies, the government’s failure to debunk the false information available online is also a contributor.
While anonymity is needed, some senior health and education officials say the Regional Health Administration has approached education officials and parents before the campaign and is often informed of the benefits of the holiday. They said many parents expressed willingness to vaccinate their daughters before driving. But things changed dramatically the day before the holiday driving started when the education department sent a letter.
Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan Dist, missed half of the target
Health and education officials said the letter requires written consent from parents, which became the main reason for driving failure. They added that the move created a lot of ambiguity in people’s minds about the holidays, further fueled by negative publicity from negative social media users and influencers from the social conservative class.
The special branch report issued on September 26 also said that the letter sent by the Ministry of Education on September 14 (the day before the drive) caused Victor anxiety among parents and citizens. It continued that parents were revulsed by the HPV vaccine due to a lack of awareness sessions and letters from the Ministry of Education before the campaign began.
Lack of interest from school administrators
Officials gave another reason for the failure of the HPV vaccination campaign, which was a lack of interest in the school government in the drive, which led to teachers not only failing to properly benefit students and their parents’ HPV vaccines, but in some cases a painful vaccine.
Bahawalnagar CEO Dr Health told officials about the views. dawn In the analytical drive, school teachers showed that there was insufficient vaccine for female students, who claimed that instead of guiding and motivating parents and students and getting written permission, he told the health department that the health department’s written writing and that students and their parents were not interested in getting vaccinated. He said that while the health department continues to hold several awareness workshops, walking and other activities related to the above-mentioned drivers, social media campaigns and the lack of cooperation between private and educational officials, have allowed the health department to avoid half of the vaccination benefits in the Bahavar Nagar region or its targets.
Lack of security
From a perspective on vaccination, special departments and other intelligence agencies remind the government through their reports that vacation groups should be used with police or social mobilization to deal with any adverse situation. However, the health teams throughout the region, including Bahawalnagar, did not provide any security as this was the holiday group that had to face violence in several places.
The report of the special branch said on September 18 and September 25 that the health team, which was not accompanied by any safety, was attacked by parents and private schools of Govt girls’ primary school in Multani Chowk and Chishtian Hussaain Colony, in two different locations in Bahavarnagar. The report again recommends that the government should dispatch health teams under strict protection and follow safety protocols.
DHA health officials told dawn Although the health department has not issued written instructions in this regard; however, in accordance with oral instructions issued by the department, vaccines should be delivered to various health centers at the regional level, where women of parents should be issued there.
Posted at Dawn on September 27, 2025
