Anti-polio drive kick-starts in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi:A five-day anti-polio drive under National Immunisation Days (NIDs) campaign has been launched here in Rawalpindi district on Monday with a target of administering anti-polio vaccine to 1057756 children below five years of age in the district.

Under the five-day door-to-door anti-polio drive, a total of 212 union councils of Rawalpindi district would be covered. The anti-polio drive would be followed by two-day catch-up activity. The drive started on Monday would be concluded on Sunday, June 1.

The inauguration ceremony of the week-long anti-polio drive was held at Chungi No. 22 that was attended by the deputy commissioner Rawalpindi and Member National Assembly Tahira Aurangzeb apart from senior officials from District Health Authority.

It is important that Pakistan Polio Programme has launched its third national polio vaccination drive in 2025 on May 26 with an aim of administering anti-polio vaccine to over 45 million children all across Pakistan while to date in 2025, as many as 10 confirmed polio cases have been reported from the country.

The situation is alarming as poliovirus has been detected in as many as 272 sewage samples from a total of 68 districts in Pakistan in 2025 that hints towards a continued transmission of the disease.

Under the anti-polio drive launched on Monday, all union councils of Rawalpindi district along with all wards in cantonment board areas would be covered. The target of the on-going campaign is to administer anti-polio vaccine to all children below five years of age in the district.