By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The health authorities will begin a week-long door-to-door polio vaccination campaign from Sunday, targeting nearly 19 million children across 79 districts, officials said on Tuesday, in the latest push to eradicate a disease that remains endemic only in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.
The National Emergency Operations Center, which coordinates the country’s polio eradication efforts, announced the drive in a statement issued Tuesday. It comes less than two weeks after health officials confirmed two new cases of wild poliovirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on May 1 — the latest sign that the virus continues to circulate despite years of intensive vaccination efforts.
“A special anti-polio campaign will begin across 79 selected districts nationwide from May 18,” the center said. “The anti-polio campaign in the 79 selected districts will continue until May 24 during which 19 million children will be administered polio prevention drops.”
More than 160,000 polio workers are expected to take part in the synchronised effort, which will run simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The campaign will focus on children under 5, the group most vulnerable to the highly contagious virus that can cause irreversible paralysis and, in rare cases, death. Oral polio drops, given repeatedly, provide safe and effective protection.
The scale of the operation varies by province. In Punjab, workers will visit 10 districts to reach about 6.19 million children. In Sindh, the drive will cover 20 districts and 5.79 million children. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will see vaccinations in 23 districts for 4.61 million children, while Balochistan’s 25 targeted districts aim to reach 1.99 million. Authorities also plan to vaccinate roughly 450,000 children in Islamabad.
The center appealed directly to parents. “Welcome the polio teams and help keep your children safe from polio,” it said. “Parents are requested to ensure that all children under 5 years of age receive polio drops.”
The campaign follows a nationwide drive last month that reached more than 45 million children. That effort was marred by violence: one police officer assigned to protect vaccination teams was killed by unidentified gunmen. Such attacks have become a grim feature of polio eradication work here. Over the past decade, militants opposed to the Pakistani state — particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — have repeatedly targeted health workers and the police officers guarding them, killing dozens. In earlier years, some religious leaders spread false claims that the vaccine contained pork or alcohol, making it forbidden for Muslims. Public trust was further eroded by revelations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had staged a fake hepatitis B vaccination campaign in Pakistan in 2011 as part of the effort to locate Osama bin Laden.
Despite the challenges, Pakistan has recorded progress. Health authorities have confirmed just three polio cases so far this year, compared with 31 in 2025 and 74 in 2024. Officials hope the current campaign will prevent any further spread ahead of the high-transmission season that typically arrives with warmer weather and increased population movement.
Polio, once a global scourge, has been eliminated in nearly every country through sustained vaccination programs. Only Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to report cases of the wild virus. The two nations coordinate their campaigns in recognition of the disease’s ability to cross porous borders.
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