ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has vaccinated over six million children during an anti-polio drive that recently concluded in different parts of the country, said an official statement on Wednesday that emphasized the significance of periodic immunization campaigns.

Polio has been eradicated in much of the world, though Pakistan reported 20 new cases of the disease in North Waziristan tribal district last year. The recent campaign targeted several areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along with high-risk cities in other parts of the country.

Discussing the outcome of the campaign, Pakistan’s health minister Abdul Qadir Patel said the immunization drive was meant to provide added protection to children after the government launched the first campaign of the year in January.

“Until we eradicate polio from Pakistan, it is crucial to ensure repeated vaccination for children under five to build their immunity against this infectious paralytic disease,” the statement quoted him as saying. “We will not give up and there will be another campaign in March and more throughout the year because we must protect our children.”

“We have been very successful in most parts of the country and now we are aggressively fighting the poliovirus in the last few districts where it remains,” he continued. “In the February campaign, we immunized nearly 6.3 million children.”

The country’s National Emergency Operations coordinator, Dr. Shahzad Baig, said the poliovirus traveled with under-immunized people, adding this was also the reason why these campaigns were specifically designed to vaccinate vulnerable children in communities that have frequent population movement.

“In many areas of southern KP [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa], particularly in Bannu, we have made real progress against the virus,” he added.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death.

While there is no cure for the disease, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from crippling disease.

Pakistan has not reported any polio case since September 2022.