How Molvi Hameedullah changed his views and now helps families trust the polio vaccine

Killa Abdullah, Balochistan:

Molvi Hameedullah is a religious scholar in Killa Abdullah. He speaks to his community every week during Friday prayers and also runs a seminary.

Today, he is a strong supporter of vaccination. But this was not always the case.

For many years, he did not trust the polio vaccine. He even spoke against vaccination in his community.

A Change in Thinking

Molvi Hameedullah's views began to change after he was invited to a two-day conference in Islamabad.

Religious scholars from Pakistan and other Islamic countries came together to discuss polio vaccination. The conference gave him a chance to ask questions and share his concerns.

“At the conference, I was given an opportunity to discuss my apprehensions towards polio vaccine. The talks I had motivated me to further research the pro-polio vaccine stance, and I started meeting with religious scholars in Karachi to debate polio vaccination.”

The discussions gave him a different view of the vaccine.

“Through talking to these people, I was getting a completely different picture to what I had believed earlier.”

Learning More About the Vaccine

After the conference, Molvi Hameedullah received a book containing religious rulings supporting vaccination.

At first, he was still unsure. He called the religious schools that had issued the rulings to make sure they were genuine. They confirmed that the rulings were real and encouraged him to support vaccination.

This helped remove his doubts.

A New Role in His Community

Today, Molvi Hameedullah is a member of the Provincial Scholar Task Force. He works with other religious scholars to encourage families to vaccinate their children.

Looking back at his earlier views, he says:

“All my doubts vanished, but I was faced with a different problem. I had been working against polio vaccination for many years, and now felt that I had done a great damage to the children and parents of my community. I felt it was now my absolute religious duty to negate all that I had taught before. I decided to step forth, and started working in the community voluntarily to promote vaccination.”

Since he began this work, religious refusals in his area have declined. He also supports other efforts to make sure children receive vaccines, including helping recruit women vaccinators.

Building Trust

Changing people's views takes time. Molvi Hameedullah and other scholars sometimes face criticism from people who question their reasons for supporting vaccination.

Still, he remains committed to his new role.

For Molvi Hameedullah, changing his own views was the first step. Now, he uses the trust he has in his community to help other families protect their children through vaccination.