Fazal Jan thought he knew what to expect, as he prepared for the Hajj.
Scrubbing himself from his white hair to his hennaed beard to his toes, so he could stand clean before Allah. Trimming his nails. Kneeling to ask Allah to purify him from the inside out and make him worthy of the pilgrimage. Wrapping himself in the ihram, the long cotton cloth of the purest white that he will wear all the way from Pakistan to Mecca.
What Fazal didn’t expect, as he was about to undertake the Islamic holy pilgrimage to Mecca, was to be asked to open his mouth wide and receive two drops of polio vaccine.
Fazal is from a part of Pakistan that comprises one of the world’s last bastions of polio. In pockets of resistance to the polio vaccine, such as those that exist in parts of Pakistan’s FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, misunderstandings and rumors about the vaccine run rife.
Sadly, it is local children who suffer the effects of these misunderstandings – and who are at risk of being paralyzed by polio as a result.
For Fazal, the message he received in being given the polio vaccine at a Hajj Camp was clear:
Hajjis from Pakistan are Vaccinated Against Polio to Enter Mecca from PolioEradicationPk on Vimeo.
“Had polio drops been non-religious or harmful, then why would Saudi Arabia, being a Muslim country, allow them?”
Saudi Arabia doesn’t just allow the polio drops. It requires them, for any pilgrim approaching Mecca from any of the world’s last three polio-endemic countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
While children are most likely to be affected by the polio virus, which can leave them paralyzed for life, adults from polio-endemic countries can too easily carry the virus with them when they travel. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is well aware of the fact that, wherever any child goes unvaccinated against polio, every child everywhere is at risk.
In a video to be aired on Pakistani TV on World Polio Day, 24 October, Fazal joins other pilgrims in receiving the polio vaccine at a Hajj camp before they depart for Mecca – and in beginning to question the rumors they’ve heard, which can have such tragic results for children. The video will aim to reach up to 80 million Pakistanis in Fazal’s native Pashtu language, as well as in Urdu.
As for Fazal and the other pilgrims, they will each take the vaccine a second time upon arrival at the Jeddah Airport. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is taking no chances, when it comes to the health and lives of children. And with good reason: It is thanks to the polio vaccine that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with over 50 other Muslim countries, is now polio-free.
Once Fazal has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, even his name will change: For the rest of his life, he will be honored with the title of Hajji.
And maybe he will also bring back another important change to be proud of:
By sharing his newfound knowledge about the polio vaccine, Hajji Fazal Jan can help the children of his community to join children all over the Muslim world – and finally be free of polio for good.
