Polio Pulse

Polio Pulse provides social listening insights to support GPEI’s polio interventions on disinformation, crisis communication, and strategic communication. Data is monitored from polio-endemic and outbreak countries and geographies classified by GPEI, covering 12 major languages spoken in these regions.

Medium Risk

Posts support polio vaccination campaign boycotts in Punjab

Geography
Pakistan
Themes
Conspiracy theories
Necessity

Analysis

A local news outlet shamed Punjab community health workers who are boycotting polio vaccination campaigns because the government is outsourcing hospitals. The video states that boycotting polio campaigns is the wrong choice. Many commenters supported the boycott, calling it the “right decision.” Other posts called the government corrupt and accused newscasters of accepting money to promote the polio campaign.

Recommendations

Calls to boycott polio campaigns have been spreading online for weeks in Pakistan, unjustly using the health of children as a bargaining tool. Emphasizing key talking points is recommended: The polio vaccine is the only way to protect children from polio, and all children should be given the polio vaccine.