Munazzah Kaleem, Syeda Aimen Waris, Mubashira Kiran, Farwa Shabbir, Ramish Riaz, Rehmana Waris.
Concerns and perceptions towards polio vaccination in the population of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Rawal Med J Jan ;46(1):176-9.

Objective: To assess the concerns and perceptions towards polio vaccination in the population of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted in Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan from May to June 2018. A Questionnaire was designed to collect data by consecutive sampling technique. Analysis was done using SPSS version 23. Results: A total of 629 participants were interviewed. Out of 443 participants who got their children vaccinated, 168 (37.9%) had untrue concerns such as false religious beliefs (6.5%), lack of trust on government (57.7%) and fear of infertility (20.2%). A few of them (10.1%) erroneously believed that the polio campaign had some hidden agenda behind or that vaccine itself causes disease. Majority of participants (87.3%) had the opinion that door to door polio service will help to eradicate the disease. Conclusion: Lack of trust on government and religious beliefs were two major reasons, out of several, for not having vaccination. The government should focus on creating awareness programs and eliminating false perception regarding vaccination through media mobilization. Penetrating the community through local leaders is another option.

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