Read in full: https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/11/09/g-s1-96333/vaccin...
ISLAMABAD — 'This fall saw Pakistan's first-ever campaign to administer the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects girls from cervical cancer. The vaccine is highly effective, according to global health groups, and is routinely administered in some 150 countries. It was not a rousing success...
'The teams, operating in parts of Pakistan as well as Pakistan-administered Kashmir, met fierce resistance from some parents... They asked: Why is the vaccine being given only to young girls and not boys?... They wanted to know if the vaccine would affect their daughters' ability to have children later on — and why foreign organizations such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and the World Health Organization were involved in the campaign.
"Our biggest challenge was to counter misinformation," says Akram, technical director at Pakistan Federal Directorate of Immunization...
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org