Pakistan has vaccinated around 9 million adolescent girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus responsible for most cervical cancers, as part of a national immunization campaign that has pushed forward despite online misinformation and public skepticism, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal announced on Friday.
Launched on September 15, the campaign aims to immunize 13 million girls aged 9 to 14. So far, the effort has achieved approximately 70% of its target, Kamal said.
The initiative initially faced significant resistance due to widespread rumors, particularly on social media, falsely claiming the vaccine causes infertility. To counter these fears, Kamal publicly received the vaccine alongside his daughter during a televised event in Karachi earlier this week.
“By the grace of God, administering the vaccine to my daughter publicly had a huge impact,” Kamal told The Associated Press. “From the fifth day of the campaign, refusal rates began to decline, and acceptance reached 70 to 80 percent in some districts.”
Despite these improvements, vaccine hesitancy persists.
“I’ve heard that this vaccine is being used to make Muslim women infertile and reduce our population,” said a mother of two in Karachi. “Social media is full of such claims. My relatives have also warned me not to let health workers vaccinate my daughters.”
Health workers on the ground are facing challenges as they go door-to-door to raise awareness and administer the vaccine.
“It’s exhausting work,” said Shamim Anwar, 52, a health worker in Karachi. “Many parents are still hesitant due to the rumors. Some even insult us, but we continue because this campaign is important.”
Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women in Pakistan, after breast and ovarian cancers. Globally, it ranks fourth. Health authorities estimate that 18,000 to 20,000 women in Pakistan die from cervical cancer annually.
The national campaign was launched under the slogan “One jab will do the job”, with vaccination centers set up and teams deployed to schools across the country. The HPV vaccine is being provided free of charge and is known to cause only mild, short-term side effects in most cases.
Initially, the campaign focused on girls in Punjab, Sindh, and Azad Kashmir, with plans to expand to other regions by 2027. Pakistan aims to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health threat by 2030. With this campaign, it became the 149th country to include the HPV vaccine in its national immunization program.