ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday launched Pakistan’s second nationwide vaccination campaign against poliovirus, scheduled to be held from Apr. 21-27, as Islamabad struggles to eradicate the disease. 

Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure and multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine — along with completing the routine immunization schedule for children under five — are crucial to building immunity against the virus.

Pakistan, which has reported six polio cases so far in 2025, has planned three major vaccination campaigns in the first half of the year, with additional rounds scheduled for April and May. The seven-day campaign is going to be the second anti-polio drive to be held this year, and aims to vaccinate over 45 million children against the disease. 

“It is my request to parents all over Pakistan that they help us out in administering polio drops to their children,” Sharif said during a ceremony in Islamabad. 

“Help our teams in the field so that this virus can be eliminated for good.”

Sharif said the government has undertaken stringent security measures in sensitive areas for polio volunteers. He called on authorities to mobilize the public so that they become “soldiers” in the fight against poliovirus. 

Earlier, the prime minister kicked off the anti-polio campaign by administering polio drops to a few children. 

Pakistan’s polio program, launched in 1994, has faced persistent challenges including vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners who claim immunization is a foreign conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children or a guise for Western espionage. 

Militant groups have also repeatedly targeted and killed polio vaccination workers.

In 2024, Pakistan reported an alarming 74 polio cases. Along with Afghanistan, it remains one of the only two countries where polio is still endemic.