Pakistan launches nationwide anti-polio drive

Pakistan on Monday launched its final nationwide anti-polio drive for 2025, ARY News reported, quoting the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

The seven-day anti-polio drive will continue until December 21 and aims to administer polio drops to more than 45 million children across the country.

In Punjab, over 23 million children will be vaccinated, while Sindh will cover more than 10.6 million children anti-polio drops.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign targets over 7.2 million children, whereas more than 2.6 million children will be vaccinated in Balochistan.

In Islamabad, polio drops will be administered to over 460,000 children. Gilgit-Baltistan will see vaccination of more than 228,000 children, while over 760,000 children will be covered in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The National EOC stated that more than 400,000 male and female polio workers will perform duties during the campaign. Underlining the importance of collective responsibility, the EOC said that protecting children from polio is a shared national obligation and urged parents to fully cooperate with polio teams to secure the country’s future against the disease.

Earlier, it was reported, citing sources, that the nationwide anti-polio drive, held in October, ‘failed’ to achieve set targets.

The campaign ran nationwide from October 13 to 19, aiming to vaccinate over 45 million children, the sources said. However, 1,096,525 children missed out on the vaccine, with 721,296 children unavailable for vaccination. Additionally, there were 53,621 reported cases of vaccine refusal during the campaign.