ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has launched its fifth and final nationwide polio vaccination campaign of the year, aiming to immunize more than 45 million children under the age of five against paralytic polio. The drive will run from December 15 to 21.
Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the campaign at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) for Polio Eradication, where he administered polio drops to children, including the son of NEOC Coordinator Muhammad Anwar. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protecting every child from the persistent global and regional threat of polio.
More than 400,000 vaccinators will participate in the week-long effort, going door-to-door to deliver the two essential drops of oral polio vaccine. Since the launch of the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative in 1994, systematic house-to-house campaigns have reduced annual polio cases by 99.6 percent — declining from an estimated 20,000 cases to 74 in 2024 and 30 so far in 2025.
Minister Kamal noted that over half of this year’s cases were reported in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, highlighting gaps in vaccine access. He said each case represented a child whose future had been disrupted and a community placed at risk. Despite progress, he warned that regular detection of poliovirus in environmental samples indicated continued danger to children nationwide.
Calling for collective action, he urged parents, caregivers, religious leaders, community elders, public representatives, and the media to ensure no child is missed during the campaign. He stressed that the polio vaccine is safe, widely used, and the only proven protection against lifelong disability.
Representatives of partner organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and members of the National Polio Programme, attended the inauguration ceremony.
The December campaign targets 23.3 million children in Punjab, 10.6 million in Sindh, 7.2 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2.6 million in Balochistan, 0.74 million in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 0.28 million in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 0.46 million in Islamabad. The effort is synchronized with a parallel polio drive in Afghanistan to curb cross-border transmission, with special focus on high-risk districts and mobile populations, including nomadic families, seasonal migrants, and border communities.
Authorities urged the public to cooperate with vaccination teams and report any missed children through the Sehat Tahaffuz Helpline at 1166 or via WhatsApp at 0346-7776546.
