DHAKA: Police in northwest Pakistan have arrested more than 450 parents for refusing to vaccinate their children against polio.

Officials said on Monday, reports The Straits Times.

Riaz Khan Mehsud, deputy commissioner of Peshawar, the main town of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told the media 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.

The virus is most prevalent in the country’s restive northwest and a fresh immunisation drive began on Monday aimed at vaccinating more than 2.7 million children in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

BDST: 2011 HRS, MAR 02, 2015