PESHAWAR: Pakistani health authorities on Monday kicked off a targeted anti-polio vaccination drive in specific districts of the militancy-hit northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, an official confirmed, saying the campaign aims to inoculate 1.29 million children.
Pakistan last week said it had inoculated over 19 million children nationwide during a polio vaccination campaign. The vaccination drive is part of Islamabad’s efforts to stem the spread of the disease, which is an incurable, highly infectious virus that can cause lifelong paralysis and can only be prevented through repeated oral vaccination and routine immunization.
The latest polio vaccination campaign in KP will take place from Sept. 15-18, Amjad Ali, a provincial spokesman for the polio eradication program, confirmed in a statement. He said the seven districts that will be targeted in the vaccination campaign are Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Lower South Waziristan, Upper South Waziristan and Upper Dir.
“Polio drops will also be administered in selected areas of Bajaur and Swat districts,” Ali said in a statement.
“For this phase of the campaign, 8,928 trained polio worker teams have been formed.”
The spokesperson said that approximately 11,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure the safety of polio teams.
Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on polio workers by militant groups. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted during these campaigns.
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries were the disease remains endemic. Pakistan recorded 74 cases in 2024, a sharp rise from six in 2023 and just one in 2021.
Pakistan’s KP province, which borders Afghanistan, has seen a rise in militant attacks since November 2022, when the state’s truce with the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down. The TTP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against law enforcers and citizens in Pakistan to enforce their strict brand of Islamic law in the country.
Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Waziristan and Dir districts have seen violent attacks by militants in the past. Pakistan’s military last week confirmed 19 soldiers had been killed in KP in separate clashes with militants.
