KARACHI : Pakistan has vaccinated more than 18 million children in the first five days of a nationwide anti-polio campaign, health authorities said on Friday, as the country grapples with a resurgence of the crippling virus that has caused 24 cases so far this year.
The weeklong drive, running from Sept. 1–9, is Pakistan’s fourth anti-polio campaign of 2025 and aims to immunize 28.7 million children under five across 99 high-risk districts, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).
“So far, more than 18 million children have been vaccinated against polio,” the NEOC said in a statement.
Vaccinations include 4 million children in Punjab, 7.6 million in Sindh, 3.7 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1.9 million in Balochistan, 368,000 in Islamabad, 112,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 164,000 in Azad Kashmir.
The campaign, conducted simultaneously with neighboring Afghanistan — the only other country where polio remains endemic — — was delayed in nine Punjab districts due to flooding and will begin in parts of southern KP, including Bajaur and Upper Dir, on Sept. 15.
Polio is an incurable, highly infectious virus that can cause lifelong paralysis and can only be prevented through repeated oral vaccination and routine immunization. Pakistan recorded 74 cases in 2024, a sharp rise from six in 2023 and just one in 2021, underscoring the challenge of eradication.
Pakistan has made major gains since the 1990s, when annual cases exceeded 20,000, reducing the toll to eight by 2018. But vaccine hesitancy, fueled by misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, continues to hamper progress.
Health teams have also faced frequent militant attacks, particularly in KP and Balochistan, where vaccinators and security personnel have been killed while administering drops in remote communities.
Officials say such violence, coupled with natural disasters such as the current flooding, are complicating nationwide eradication efforts.
