ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has vaccinated more than 27.7 million children against polio in an ongoing sub-national immunization campaign, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) for Polio Eradication said on Saturday, as the country steps up efforts to eradicate the virus.

Polio is a highly contagious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis and, in some cases, death. It can be prevented through safe and effective polio vaccines. Pakistan has reported four wild poliovirus type 1 cases reported so far this year, including three in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and one in the southern Sindh province.

Authorities on Sept. 21 launched a sub-national anti-polio campaign in 115 districts across the country, aiming to vaccinate around 31 million children. So far, over 7.8 million children have been administered polio drops in selected districts of Punjab, 9.8 million in Sindh, 7.1 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2.2 million in Balochistan, 443,000 in Islamabad, and 140,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

“Polio is an incurable disease, but prevention is possible through vaccination,” the NEOC said in a statement. “Polio workers are visiting your doorstep with a message of hope; please cooperate with them.”

Over 273,000 polio workers are engaged in the door-to-door drive which will continue till Sept. 27.

Pakistan has conducted repeated nationwide and targeted vaccination campaigns as it seeks to halt the transmission of wild poliovirus. More than 45 million children under five were targeted in three nationwide campaigns earlier this year.

However, Pakistan’s polio campaigns have long been hampered by misinformation and vaccine refusals, as well as attacks by militant groups, who falsely claim polio vaccines are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children or cause infertility.

This week, unidentified gunmen killed two police constables deployed to protect a polio vaccination team in Balochistan, a police official said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to government data, Pakistan has reduced polio cases by 99.8 percent from an estimated 20,000 cases in the early 1990s to 31 last year.