Mustafa Kamal has said that despite spending millions of dollars on vaccine awareness campaigns, there has been no significant reduction in negative public attitudes, which he has expressed concern about.
A high-level meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister of Health, which was attended by the Federal Secretary Health, DG Health and DG FDI. The meeting took a detailed and comprehensive review of the funds allocated for the vaccine awareness campaign, their utilization and the actual impact of the campaigns.
During the meeting, the Health Minister expressed his displeasure over the failure to achieve the desired results despite the huge expenditure on UNICEF-supported vaccine awareness campaigns, saying that the main objective of this campaign was to promote public confidence in vaccines and reduce the refusal rate, but in practice it did not bring significant improvements.
Despite ongoing awareness initiatives under UNICEF , negative trends persisted, he stressed that effectively ending the negative propaganda spread regarding vaccines was the need of the hour.
He said that these resources spent in the name of Pakistan are a public trust, and it is the primary responsibility of the state and the Ministry of Health to ensure the transparent, effective and productive use of these funds.
Mustafa Kamal further said that the goal of true healthcare is not just treatment but also prioritizing disease prevention, for which the Ministry of Health is responsible.
He directed that a comprehensive, effective, and results-based strategy be immediately developed to restore public confidence in vaccines, while ensuring the principles of transparency and accountability at all levels.
