Health teams will begin a week-long campaign on 2 November as Pakistan steps up repeated vaccination rounds to halt poliovirus transmission.
Pakistan will begin a sub-national polio vaccination campaign on November 2, with health teams aiming to reach more than 23.9 million children under the age of five across 97 districts, according to 24NewsHD TV and the National Emergency Operations Centre. The week-long drive is intended to protect children from poliovirus and support the country’s wider eradication effort.
The campaign will focus on areas identified as polio-affected across all four provinces, along with Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Punjab, more than 9.27 million children are expected to receive oral polio vaccine in 13 districts, while Sindh will target 6.88 million children in 20 districts. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will cover more than 4.8 million children across 27 districts, and Balochistan will vaccinate more than 2.21 million children in 31 districts. The drive will also include more than 447,000 children in Islamabad, 183,000 in two districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and 153,000 in three districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The latest campaign follows two nationwide vaccination drives earlier this year. Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Initiative said in April that its second national campaign of 2026 reached more than 44.8 million children, with more than 400,000 frontline health workers taking part. The initiative also said its first nationwide campaign of the year, held in February, aimed to protect 45 million children under five across 159 districts. Together, the successive campaigns show how Pakistan is continuing to rely on repeated vaccination rounds to interrupt transmission and push closer to eradication.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
