Lahore: Pakistan’s renowned pharmacist and public health advocate, Noor Muhammad Mahar, while addressing the media here expressed serious concerns over the government’s strategy regarding the HPV vaccine.
He said “In an Islamic society like Pakistan, forcibly vaccinating girls aged 9 to 14 years with HPV vaccine through government propaganda is a blatant violation of fundamental human rights. The incidence of cervical cancer in our country is far lower compared to the USA and Western countries. Here, sexual freedom or promiscuity is not prevalent as in Western societies. Applying a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy while ignoring Pakistan’s circumstances is unscientific and unjust.”
Scientific and Regulatory Concerns
Noor Mahar emphasized that Pakistani laboratories and DRAP’s testing mechanisms are not yet up to international standards. Pakistan may have developed the atomic bomb, but it still lacks a biological medicines testing laboratory, while the whole world has entered the age of biological warfare. Pakistan has not developed a National Biological Control Lab up to global standards. Vaccines donated by GAVI and other international organizations are not subjected to complete qualitative analysis in Pakistan. The ingredients are not fully researched, nor are their quantities clearly defined, which he described as a grave injustice to the common Pakistani.
He further added that controversial institutions like the WHO and GAVI serve primarily American and foreign interests. WHO receives 75% of its vaccines and medicines from India. Previously, Pakistan’s polio vaccine program was also ruined through propaganda, whereby local clerics were projected as “scientists” focusing only on the halal aspect, while research and testing standards were neglected.
“If Pakistan’s science, research, and biological defense are not to be led by clerics, then by that logic, only clerics should be present in surgical and operational theaters and surgeons should be dismissed. In Pakistan, even registering FIRs against polio vaccine refusals was a violation of human rights. If similar concerns about HPV vaccination are not addressed, then implementing it by force rather than on scientific grounds will again constitute a violation of human rights.”
Mahar highlighted that Pakistan’s polio program is a clear failure — polio has been eradicated worldwide but still persists here. Now, introducing HPV vaccination with force is, in his view, another embarrassment for Pakistan’s scientists, politicians, and policymakers.
He said that vaccinating millions of girls without independent and transparent scientific data feels like a policy experiment. In the polio campaign too, coercive actions and FIRs badly damaged public trust.
Violation of Human and Constitutional Rights
Under the Constitution of Pakistan (1973), bodily autonomy and human rights are fundamental principles. Forcibly imposing vaccines deviates from these principles and undermines the trust of parents in healthcare decisions.
According to Noor Mahar this narrow focus on a single disease while ignoring wider public health issues (clean water, nutrition, common diseases) is misguided is a serious concern.
Future Course of Action
The Pakistan Pharmacist Lawyer Forum (PDLF) has announced that if coercion for HPV vaccination was not stopped, it will file a writ petition in the Lahore High Court next week.
This petition will demand protection of fundamental rights, public safety, and transparency on scientific grounds.
Clarification of Cervical Cancer and HPV
HPV (Human Papilloma Virus): A virus mainly transmitted through sexual contact.
Cervical Cancer: Cancer that develops in the cervix, the lower part of the uterus, often as a long-term effect of HPV infection.
Not every HPV virus causes cancer, but some high-risk types can.
Why girls aged 9 to 14 years?
The vaccine is for prevention, not treatment.
It works best before the virus enters the body.
Girls aged 9–14 are usually not sexually active, hence HPV-free.
At this age, the immune system gives the strongest protection.
Why not older women?
Many older women may already have been exposed to HPV.
The vaccine is less effective after exposure.
In some countries, vaccination is given up to age 26 or 30, but the protection is weaker.
HPV is a virus and a major cause of cervical cancer, which develops in the lower uterus. The vaccine is preventive only. It is most effective for girls aged 9–14, while its impact is reduced in older women due to prior exposure.