Pakistan vaccinates 9 million girls against cervical cancer despite online backlash

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan has vaccinated about 9 million adolescent girls against the virus that causes cervical cancer, as part of a continuing national campaign that has overcome early setbacks fueled by skeptics online, the health minister said Friday.

Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said the campaign that began Sept. 15 is aiming to vaccinate 13 million girls aged 9 to 14 against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes most cervical cancers. He said the program so far achieved 70% of its goal.

The program has overcome what Kamal said were baseless rumors spread by some parents that the vaccine could cause infertility. He gave the vaccine to his own daughter live on stage at an event in Karachi this week to build confidence.

“By the grace of God, administering the vaccine to my daughter publicly had a huge impact,” Kamal told The Associated Press. “From the fifth day of the campaign, refusal rates began dropping and acceptance climbed to 70–80% in some districts.”

However, many parents are still reluctant.

“I have heard that the vaccination is being used to make women infertile and reduce the population of Muslims,” said Ali Sheikh, a mother of two in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.

She said that “social media is full of such claims,” and that she was advised by relatives not to allow health workers to vaccinate her daughters.

Health worker Shamim Anwar, 52, said the job of administering the vaccines has been exhausting.

“It is very difficult work. Many parents refuse because of rumors and hesitate to let us vaccinate their daughters,” she said.

“Sometimes we even face humiliation, but we tolerate it because we have to complete the vaccination target,” she said, as she went door-to-door for the campaign in Karachi.

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among Pakistani women after breast and ovarian cancers. Globally, it is the fourth most common. Each year, between 18,000 and 20,000 women in Pakistan die of the disease, according to health authorities.

Experts promoted the campaign under the slogan “one jab will do the job.” Authorities set up vaccination centers and deployed teams to schools nationwide to reach as many girls as possible.

Kamal acknowledged that during the first days of the drive, refusals outnumbered acceptances, fueled by false claims that the vaccine campaign is a Western plot to cause infertility.

Officials say the vaccine, offered free of charge, typically causes only minor side effects.

The 13 million girls targeted in the initial campaign were in Punjab and Sindh provinces and in Pakistan-held Kashmir. The country plans to expand the coverage to additional areas by 2027, hoping to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2030. It became the 149th country to add the HPV vaccine to its immunization schedule.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this story from Islamabad.

A heath worker talks with a woman during a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign aiming to protect girls from cervical cancer, at a neighbourhood of Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A health worker gives an injection of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to a girl during a campaign aiming to protect girls from cervical cancer, at a vaccination center, Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A heath worker marks on the wall of a home during a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign aiming to protect girls from cervical cancer, at a neighbourhood of Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Girls display fingers marked by a health worker after administrating an injection of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine during a nationwide campaign aiming to protect girls from cervical cancer, at a neighbourhood of Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A health worker gives an injection of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to a girl during a campaign aiming to protect girls from cervical cancer, at a school in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)