Pakistan launches final nationwide polio campaign of 2025 to vaccinate 45m children

Pakistan on Thursday launched its fifth and final nationwide polio vaccination drive of the year, aiming to immunise more than 45 million children under five as authorities push to curb persistent transmission of the virus.

Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the campaign at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), where he administered drops to children, including the son of NEOC Coordinator Muhammad Anwarul Haq. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protecting every child in Pakistan from the global and regional threat of poliovirus.

The seven-day drive, running from December 15 to 21, will see over 400,000 polio workers going door to door to administer oral vaccine drops to children under five.

According to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, nationwide vaccination efforts since 1994 have helped cut annual cases by 99.6 percent, from nearly 20,000 to 74 cases in 2024. This year, 30 cases have been reported so far.

“This year, 30 children were paralysed by polio, more than half of them in southern KP,” the minister said.

“These are not just numbers, every case represents a child’s future at risk, a family in distress and a community under threat. As long as the virus circulates, no child is safe.”

Kamal stressed that repeated vaccinations have kept the number of cases in double digits rather than in the thousands, but the continued detection of poliovirus in environmental samples across the country remains a serious concern.

He urged parents, caregivers, religious leaders, community elders, public representatives and the media to play their part. “When polio workers visit your home, welcome them and ensure all children under five are vaccinated. Protect your own children and encourage others to do the same.”

Representatives of international partners and senior officials from the national polio programme also attended the ceremony.

During the campaign, more than 23 million children in Punjab, over 10.6 million in Sindh, around 7.2 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2.6 million in Balochistan, 760,000 in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, 228,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 460,000 in Islamabad will be vaccinated.

The drive is synchronised with a parallel immunisation campaign in neighbouring Afghanistan to curb cross-border transmission and ensure protection for children on both sides of the border.

Special focus will be placed on high-risk districts, mobile populations, migrants and border communities, where the virus continues to circulate.