Peshawar, Pakistan - Police in northwest Pakistan have arrested more than 450 parents for refusing to vaccinate their children against polio, officials said on Monday.
Riaz Khan Mehsud, deputy commissioner of Peshawar, the main town of north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP that 471 parents were detained and sent to jail for refusing the vaccine.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but years of efforts to stamp it out have been badly hit by reluctance from parents, opposition from militants and attacks on immunisation teams.