The Impact of Religious and Cultural Beliefs Towards Immunization in Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is one of the only two countries in the world where poliomyelitis virus is still not eradicated. Efforts from government such as Expanded Programme on Immunizations (EPI), which has received ample international funding, have not been successful as some sub-sections of population have a negative attitude towards vaccinations. These people generally belong to areas with a lack of education as well as strong influence of religious leaders, who are known to perpetuate misconceptions that the purpose of vaccinations is to sterilize future generations, they are not made from halal products, or are an agenda by Western intelligence agencies to gather information. Also, there are other cultural and social barriers, such as lack of female vaccinators and concerns about their handling. The stance of local people is compared with Muslim leaders and laws of other Islamic countries. Furthermore, a global vaccine confidence survey is discussed to evaluate Pakistan’s position in the broader context.

Has something changed from Polio to COVID-19? Predictors of anti & Pro Vaccine Behaviors in Pakistan

“…This study contributes to most vaccination campaign results, which are typically influenced by public concerns about the efficacy and safety of vaccines (Poland et al, 2009;MacDonald et al, 2012). Ac-cording to Anwar et al (2021), people put their trust in religious leaders, who unfortunately spread myths and false beliefs about vaccines, leading to anti-vaccine behavior. This is common in areas of the country where education levels are low.…”

Association of Educational Status of Mothers and Incomplete Immunization in Children

“…The primary cause of this is ignorance about the importance of immunization caused by a lack of education and false beliefs about vaccines 9 . In Pakistan and India, people do not allow their women to leave the house for work or other errands, hence these nations have very low literacy rates 10 . Negussie and Colleagues in Ethiopia studied the effect of maternal knowledge regarding the merits of immunization and the negative perception of mothers regarding vaccine side effects in 584 samples 11 .…”