ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health workers have vaccinated over 51.5 million children against measles, rubella and polio during a recently held 13-day nationwide campaign, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said on Monday.

The campaign, conducted throughout Pakistan from Nov. 17-29, targeted children aged six months to five years. The drive also aimed to inoculate 23.3 million children against poliovirus in 90 high-risk districts.

Measles, rubella and polio are highly contagious diseases that continue to pose major public-health challenges in Pakistan among children. Measles and rubella spread through respiratory droplets and can lead to complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis, while polio attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis. 

“More than 33 million children were vaccinated against measles and rubella during the campaign,” the NEOC said in a statement. “More than 18.5 million children were administered polio drops in the national campaign.”

It highlighted that over 5.5 million children were inoculated against polio in Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, more than 6.4 million in southern Sindh province, over 4.2 million in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, more than 1.7 million in southwestern Balochistan province, over 335,000 in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and more than 131,000 children in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The last polio campaign of the year will be held this month from Dec. 15-21, the NEOC said, urging parents to ensure their children are vaccinated against the disease. 

Although measles, rubella and polio are all vaccine-preventable, sporadic outbreaks in recent years have highlighted persistent gaps in immunization coverage, misinformation and limited access to health care in remote areas of the South Asian nation of more than 241 million people.

Pakistan has reported more than 131,000 measles cases over the past three years and 30 polio cases in 2025. 

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic.

In October, Pakistan conducted a week-long anti-polio campaign, with vaccinators going door to door to reach more than 45 million children nationwide despite facing multiple attacks.