Pakistan vaccinates over 18 million children in anti-polio campaign
Pakistan vaccinates over 18 million children in anti-polio campaign/node/2614233/pakistan
Pakistan vaccinates over 18 million children in anti-polio campaign
The photograph taken on October 5, 2024, shows a health worker (R) administering polio drops to a child during a door-to-door poliovirus vaccination campaign on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. (AFP/File)
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.
ISLAMABAD: At least ten people were killed and over 30 injured in clashes near the US Consulate in Karachi on Sunday, a police surgeon said, as protests erupted across parts of Pakistan following Iran’s confirmation that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US–Israeli strikes.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the consulate on Sunday morning, with some attempting to storm the compound and vandalizing property, according to footage circulating on social media and international news reports.
Videos showed protesters armed with sticks smashing doors and windows. Separate footage appeared to show property inside the consulate premises set on fire, prompting police to fire tear gas at them. Additional Inspector General Karachi Azad Khan told reporters that miscreants managed to enter the consulate from the outer gate before police dispersed them.
Police officers take position outside US Consulate following protesters stormed the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 1, 2026. (AN photo)
“Ten people are dead while 31 injured are being treated at the Trauma Center in Civil Hospital,” Karachi Police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said in a statement.
She said four others injured, including two police constables, are being treated at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center.
Speaking to Arab News, Faisal Edhi, the chairman of Edhi Foundation charity and rescue organization, confirmed over 30 people were injured in the clashes. He said some of the injured were critically wounded, warning that the death toll could increase.
Edhi said protesters were shot by the security personnel from inside the US consulate.
Separately, the Sindh government expressed grief at the loss of lives in the clashes, saying it had constituted a high-level joint investigation committee (JIT) to carry out an impartial investigation into the incident.
“The JIT will determine the circumstances in which the incident occurred and what its causes were,” a statement by the provincial government said, adding that it respects the constitutional right of citizens to protest.
A heavy contingent of police personnel was deployed around the Red Zone in Karachi after the protest, with roads leading to the Chief Minister’s House sealed.
The violence came hours after Iranian authorities confirmed Khamenei was killed in coordinated strikes carried out by the United States and Israel, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and triggering protests in several countries.
Smoke billows over building in Skardu, Pakistan, on March 1, 2026, as protesters set UN office in district on fire. (Social media)
PROTESTS SPREAD
Demonstrations were also reported in Skardu, in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, where hundreds of people staged a sit-in on a main road to protest Khamenei’s killing.
Shabbir Mir, spokesperson for the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister, told Arab News that a United Nations office in the district had been set on fire.
“The protesters have torched an UN office in Skardu,” Mir confirmed.
Separately, the Islamabad district administration imposed a ban on public gatherings in the city via Section 144.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows authorities to impose different kinds of restrictions to maintain public order and safety.
“Strict legal action will be taken in the event of any protest, demonstration or gathering,” the administration warned in a statement.
The unrest in Pakistan follows a sharp escalation in the Middle East after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes in Iran on Saturday.
According to US officials, the operation targeted Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The US military said it suffered no casualties and reported minimal damage to its bases despite what it described as “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.”
Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Israeli ally UAE said its air defense systems intercepted dozens of Iranian missiles and drones, but debris from the interceptions caused material damage in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and at least one civilian, including a Pakistani national, was killed.
The UAE government condemned the strikes as a “blatant violation of national sovereignty and international law,” and issued rare emergency alerts urging residents to seek shelter, underscoring how the conflict has rippled far beyond Iran’s borders.
The Israeli military said dozens of Iranian missiles were fired toward Israeli territory, many of which were intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in a missile strike.
