By Zaheer Abbas Sial

Copyright dawn

A team of female health workers was attacked on Saturday while administering vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV) in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin district, the second such incident in three days.

The HPV vaccine, first launched in Pakistan in 2022, has now been rolled out nationwide as part of the routine immunisation programme to protect adolescent girls against cervical cancer. However, vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan remains a major public health challenge, driven by a mix of misinformation, safety concerns, and mistrust of authorities.

In the latest incident yesterday, the HPV vaccination team was performing its duty in a non-formal education school in the village of Ratuwal, within the limits of Kathian Sheikhan police station, when a 55-year-old resident of the village entered the school and attempted to attack a female health supervisor.

According to Kathian Sheikhan’s Station House Officer Sabir Iqbal Sindhu, the suspect “tried to attack the supervisor with a stick and by lifting a chair, threatened serious consequences and used foul language”.

“The sudden attack caused a stampede in the school, and the vaccination process had to be stopped immediately,” he added.

Statement of the affected supervisor

Speaking to Dawn on the telephone, Health Supervisor Shamim Anjum said that she and her team were forced to leave the school to save their lives.

She said that after the incident, she submitted a written application to the Kathian Sheikhan police station, following which a case was registered.

However, she added, “The assurance of security given by the provincial health minister on the first incident of September 25 has not been fulfilled yet, and no practical action has been taken by the police.”

The SHO said that a case has been registered on the complaint of the affected woman. The first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was registered under sections 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the police, action has been initiated against the suspect, who will be arrested soon.

An HPV vaccination team was also attacked in Mandi Bahauddin’s Chak No. 38 on Thursday, in which a woman was beaten up by locals.

The provincial health minister of Punjab, Khawaja Imran Nazeer, had taken notice of the incident and issued instructions to provide security to female health workers. Health workers, however, say there has been no implementation given Saturday’s attack.

When contacted by a Dawn representative about the matter, Mandi Bahauddin’s Chief Executive Officer of Health, declined to comment, hanging up the phone.

The repeated incidents of violence are affecting the performance of the campaign, as health workers say that unless they are provided with police security, it will not be possible for them to perform their duties.

The HPV vaccination campaign is being implemented in three phases: Phase 1 covered Punjab, Sindh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and the Islamabad Capital Territory; Phase 2 will expand to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2026; and Phase 3 will reach Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan in 2027.

Phase 1 of the campaign ran from 15–27 September. The goal is to vaccinate 90 per cent of girls aged 9–14 in Phase 1 regions by the end of 2025, and to sustain high coverage through routine immunisation in the coming years.