PESHAWAR: Pakistan launched the second phase of a nationwide polio immunization campaign from today, Monday, until Oct. 23, aiming to vaccinate more than a million children in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where it has seen the highest number of cases this year, a polio spokesperson said.
The three-day campaign is part of a larger drive launched last week with the aim to reach 45 million children nationwide.
Pakistan is among the last two nations in the world, along with Afghanistan, where the disease remains endemic. Last year, the country of over 240 million reported 29 polio cases, including 18 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine in Sindh and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
“During this phase, nearly one million children in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions will be administered polio drops,” Amjad Ali, a polio eradication program spokesperson said, referring to districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Children in Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and lower South Waziristan will receive polio vaccinations during this round.”
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.
Pakistan has made remarkable progress since the 1990s, when annual polio cases exceeded 20,000, bringing them down to just eight by 2018. However, the country recorded 74 cases in 2024, a sharp increase from six in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on anti-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 and killed in attacks.
