Remittances and Vaccine Hesitancy in the Punjab Province of Pakistan

Pakistan is one of only three countries that have failed to stop the transmission of poliovirus and experienced a surge of polio paralysis in 2019. Meanwhile, misconceptions persist about the safety and efficacy of vaccines in Pakistan and elsewhere. Our study investigates the effect of remittances on the likelihood a household vaccinate its children against polio and measles/mumps/rubella (MMR). Based on data from a Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey conducted in Punjab in 2014, we isolate the effect of receiving remittances using distance and exact matching. We find that access to remittances increases the likelihood of vaccinating male children against polio by about 11 percentage points and against MMR by about 12.5 percentage points. Unfortunately, remittances do not significantly improve vaccinations of girls. The results imply that vaccination campaigns - including campaigns to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2 - should focus on communities without migration experience and vaccinating girls.