ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday launched a four-day polio vaccination campaign targeting more than one million children in high-risk areas of Islamabad and neighboring Rawalpindi, as the country pushes to eradicate the disease after reporting three cases so far this year.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic. Pakistan has made significant progress since launching its eradication program in 1994, reducing annual cases by 99.8 percent from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1990s to 31 in 2025, according to the country’s polio eradication program. Three cases have been reported in 2026.
Despite the decline, the virus continues to circulate in some parts of the country, requiring repeated vaccination campaigns to prevent transmission. Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affects children under five and can cause irreversible paralysis.
“753,000 children will be vaccinated against polio in 130 high-risk union councils of Rawalpindi,” the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication said in a statement.
“289,000 children will be vaccinated against polio in 40 high-risk union councils of Islamabad.”
The campaign, which runs from Aug. 10-13, will therefore seek to reach around 1.04 million children across 170 high-risk union councils, the smallest administrative units in Pakistan.
The emergency operations center said cooperation among parents, communities and vaccination teams would be critical to the campaign’s success.
Pakistan has carried out repeated nationwide and targeted vaccination drives as it seeks to interrupt the remaining transmission of wild poliovirus. More than 45 million children under five were targeted in each of two nationwide campaigns earlier this year.
The three cases recorded so far in 2026 include one in the southern Sindh province and two in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Health authorities have said remaining transmission is concentrated particularly in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where security issues and access constraints make it difficult for vaccination teams to consistently reach children.
Pakistan’s eradication campaign has faced longstanding challenges including misinformation and vaccine refusals, as well as militant attacks on vaccination workers and police officers assigned to protect them, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
