Birgunj, November 20:

Around 11 per cent of children below five years of age in the Birgunj city area were left out in the first phase of the national polio vaccination drive, according to a survey.

The survey found that lack of awareness, outdated social traditions and mistrust of the vaccine among the people from backward, Marwadi and Muslim communities were responsible for the children being deprived of the vaccine.

The Parsa District Public Health Office (DPHO) had claimed that the first phase of the vaccination drive was 100 per cent successful. However, the on-site pilot survey has shown that 11 per cent of the children in the city alone were not vaccinated, questioning the effectiveness of the polio eradication drive.