Pakistan's anti-polio campaign reaches over 27 million children amid threats and resistance

Pakistan has vaccinated more than 27.7 million children in a sustained effort to eliminate polio, despite ongoing security risks and misinformation challenges that hinder progress in one of the last endemic countries.

Pakistan has vaccinated more than 27.7 million children in an ongoing anti-polio campaign, as authorities push to stop the virus from spreading in one of the last countries where it remains endemic. The National Emergency Operations Centre said the latest drive is aimed at reaching about 31 million children across 115 districts and is due to continue until 27 September.

Health officials say the campaign has already covered large numbers of children in several provinces, including Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as well as Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. More than 273,000 workers have been going door to door to administer the oral vaccine, a method Pakistan has relied on for years because of the virus’s persistence in hard-to-reach and high-risk communities.

Polio is incurable, but it can be prevented through vaccination. This year, Pakistan has recorded four cases of wild poliovirus type 1, with three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Sindh, underscoring how transmission continues despite repeated national and targeted drives. Government data shows the country has cut polio cases by 99.8 per cent from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1990s to 31 last year, but health authorities say the final stretch has proved the hardest.

The current campaign follows earlier efforts to widen coverage. Pakistan launched a sub-national campaign in May 2023 aimed at reaching roughly 23 million children, then rolled out a nationwide drive in October that targeted more than 43 million children under five. Officials have repeatedly urged parents to accept the vaccine, saying the programme depends on community participation as much as logistics.

But the eradication effort has long faced resistance from misinformation, refusals and militant violence. Anti-vaccine conspiracy theories have circulated for years, falsely claiming the drops are part of a plot to sterilise Muslim children or cause infertility. The campaign also remains dangerous: this week, unidentified gunmen killed two police officers protecting a vaccination team in Balochistan, according to police. No group claimed responsibility.