Govt to launch week-long anti-polio campaign from Oct 13

The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) will launch a week-long nationwide anti-polio campaign from October 13, aiming to immunise over 45 million children under five years of age against the crippling virus.

According to the NEOC, children will also receive an additional dose of Vitamin A during the campaign to help boost their immunity.

More than 400,000 trained polio workers will participate in the week-long drive across the country to ensure that every eligible child receives the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

Provincial data shared by the NEOC shows that in Punjab, over 23 million children under five will be vaccinated, while in Sindh, more than 10.6 million children will be targeted. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, around 7.2 million children will be covered, and in Balochistan, over 2.6 million will receive the vaccine.

In Islamabad, more than 460,000 children will be administered polio drops, while in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, over 760,000 children will be vaccinated. In Gilgit-Baltistan, the campaign aims to reach more than 280,000 children.

The NEOC has urged all parents and caregivers to ensure that every child under five receives the polio drops during the nationwide campaign. It also appealed to parents to complete their children’s routine immunisation to protect them from polio and other preventable diseases.

The total number of polio cases in the country for 2025 has jumped to 29, with two cases reported on September 29 from Sindh.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan. The country was near to eradicating the crippling disease in 2021 after significant drop in number of cases, until the recent spike in cases.

Last year, Pakistan reported a total of 74 polio cases. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 23 from Sindh, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Polio is a paralysing disease with no cure, and the completion of the routine vaccination for all children under the age of five just provides them with high immunity against this terrible disease.