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New bill will require vaccination records for school admissions

By A Reporter 2015-10-14
ISLAMABAD: One out of 10 children in Pakistan dies before the age of five because parents are reluctant to vaccinate them. To remedy the situation, parents should be required to submit vaccination records at schools at the time of admission.

Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister`s focal person for polio, informed the members of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) of this at a meeting held in Parliament house on Tuesday.

She said a bill will be tabled soon, requiring parents to submit a vaccination card for their child at the time of admission in a school or madrassa.

The senator said, `This will definitely help in increasing the vaccination ratio because people will know their kids won`t be able to get regular or religious education if they are not vaccinated.

Ms Farooq, who recently participated in a meeting of the Independent Monitoring Board for Polio in the UK, said steps were being taken to ensure more children were vaccinated. She said that is how child mortality rates can be reduced.

Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja of the PPP said he was not aware of the bill and that no one had discussed it with him.

However, Senator Sajjad Hussein Turi, who chaired the meeting, said Senator Farhatullah Babar had been provided with a copy of the bill and that committee members had been included in discussions over it.

He instructed staff to provide Senator Khawaja with a copy.

Saira Afzal Tarar, Minister NHS, said laws were often made but not implemented. To avoid that from happening, Ms Tarar said all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division, the Ministry of Education and others will be actively involved in the process.

She said, `Data about children is very important which is why Nadra will also be tal(en onboard to ensure vaccination records of every child are kept.