KARACHI: As Sindh’s first-ever human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign nears its conclusion, official figures have revealed an alarming trend — Karachi has posted the lowest coverage in the province, despite being its largest and most urban division.
The campaign, launched on September 15, is aimed at protecting girls between the ages of nine and 14 against cervical cancer. Covering 30 districts and more than 1,190 union councils, the drive set out to vaccinate 4.1 million girls. It is scheduled to wrap up on September 27.
According to data from the Sindh Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), around 57 percent of the target population has been vaccinated across the province within just seven days. Some districts have shown remarkable response, with Naushahro Feroze topping the chart at 89 percent, followed closely by Qambar at 88 percent, and Badin and Sujawal at 85 percent each. By contrast, Karachi has managed just 33 percent coverage overall.
Out of a target of nearly 888,000 girls, only 288,477 have received the vaccine so far in Karachi. District West has shown the highest coverage in the city at 65 percent, while Keamari sits at the bottom with a worrying 12 percent.
Health experts say misinformation played a major role in the city’s poor turnout. “From day one, certain social media influencers without any medical background ran persistent propaganda against the HPV vaccine,” said Dr Khalid Shafi of the Pakistan Paediatric Association. “This had a particularly damaging impact in Karachi, where these voices have large followings. Some religious opposition also emerged later.”
He explained that many families, swayed by misleading claims, chose to wait before vaccinating their daughters. “Hopefully, once they see positive outcomes, they will rethink their decision,” he added. “Normally, our vaccination rates hover around 70 percent, even without this kind of false narrative.”
EPI Project Director Dr Raj Kumar described Karachi’s numbers as “unexpected.”
“Towns with lower literacy rates have performed far better,” he said. “Local political leaders and MPs there actively encouraged families to participate, which made a huge difference. In Karachi, unfortunately, that push wasn’t as strong.”
To counter the low uptake, officials say more sessions of parental counselling are being held in schools across the city. Even so, Sindh’s performance overall is significantly better than the rest of Pakistan, where coverage rates remain much lower Islamabad, for instance, has recorded just 18 percent so far.
Pakistan is the 149th country to introduce the HPV vaccine into its immunisation programme. The vaccine is already part of routine healthcare in several Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Indonesia.
Cervical cancer remains the second most lethal cancer among women worldwide and a major health threat in Pakistan, where more than 65 percent of patients do not survive. HPV is the primary cause of cervical cancer, and the vaccine is the world’s first proven cancer-prevention vaccine. Experts stress that it is safe, effective, and provides near-total protection against the disease.
