Parents in Pakistan could face prison time for not vaccinating their kids against polio

By ADIL JAWAD and MARIA CHENG
Associated Press

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in one province of Pakistan are turning to a controversial new tactic in the decades-long initiative to wipe out polio: prison. Last month, the government in Sindh introduced a bill that threatens to imprison parents for up to one month if they fail to get their children immunized against polio or eight other common diseases. Experts at the World Health Organization worry the unusual strategy could further undermine trust in the polio vaccines. The effort to convince parents of the vaccines’ safety is also being complicated by the fact that most of the world’s polio cases are now caused by viruses linked to the oral vaccine.