By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not reported a new polio case since February 10, state media reported on Thursday, a milestone in its fight against the virus as authorities prepare to vaccinate 45 million children in a nationwide campaign starting later this month.
Health officials confirmed 74 cases nationwide in 2024, with the last case detected over two months ago.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the world’s last polio-endemic nations. Cases in Pakistan have plummeted from roughly 20,000 annually in the 1990s to single digits in recent years, including one in 2021 and six in 2023. However, transmission persists in high-risk regions: Balochistan reported 27 of last year’s 74 cases, followed by Sindh (23), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (22), Punjab (1), and Islamabad (1).
Efforts to eliminate the virus remain fraught with challenges. Militants killed or kidnapped over 100 polio workers since 2012, including an attack earlier this week in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where gunmen abducted two vaccinators. Vaccine misinformation, including baseless claims that campaigns are foreign plots to sterilize children, has also hampered outreach.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, chairing a meeting on polio eradication, called for urgent public mobilization ahead of the April 21-27 immunization drive, which will deploy 415,000 health workers.
“It must be ensured that every child under five years of age is administered the polio vaccine during the anti-polio campaign starting from April 21,” Sharif was quoted by Radio Pakistan as saying
The Prime Minister was informed that “not a single case of polio had been reported in the country since February 10, 2025.”
Sharif directed authorities to ensure awareness and community mobilization regarding the upcoming nationwide anti-polio campaign during which the vaccine will be administered to 45 million children by over 415,000 vaccinators.
The premier commended the efforts of relevant government institutions, international organisations, and partners to make Pakistan polio-free.
He directed the relevant authorities to ensure awareness and community mobilisation regarding the anti-polio campaign across the country.
“Despite challenging conditions, the workers participating in the anti-polio campaign are playing a frontline role in the fight against this disease,” Sharif said. “The entire nation, including himself, was proud of the hardworking polio workers.”
Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure and multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine — along with completing the routine immunization schedule for children under five — are crucial to building immunity against the virus.
Pakistan has planned three major vaccination campaigns in the first half of the year.
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