More than 23.4 million children have received polio drops in the first five days of Pakistan’s latest sub-national immunisation drive, health officials said on Saturday, putting the campaign within reach of its target of about 24 million children under five.
The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said the drive is running in 97 selected districts across the country, with more than 200,000 frontline workers going door to door. The sixth day of the campaign was under way on Saturday, and vaccination is scheduled to continue until 8 November.
Punjab has vaccinated the largest number so far — more than 9.025 million children in 13 districts — followed by Sindh with over 6.856 million in 20 districts. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, more than 4.624 million children were covered in 27 districts, while Balochistan reached 2.169 million in 31 districts.
In the federal capital, more than 450,000 children received drops, while Gilgit-Baltistan covered over 161,000 children in three districts and Azad Jammu and Kashmir vaccinated about 192,000 children in two districts.
The campaign is running at the same time in Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of a coordinated regional effort to stop the virus spreading across the border and to protect children from the crippling disease, the NEOC said.
Only vaccination can prevent polio
The centre warned that the threat of the poliovirus persists across the country. Polio has no cure, it said, and vaccination remains the only effective protection against it.
Parents and caregivers were urged to cooperate fully with vaccination teams and to make sure every child below five receives the drops during the drive. Families were also advised to complete children’s routine immunisation on schedule to guard against other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The NEOC said sustained vaccination, community participation and public cooperation are essential if Pakistan is to become polio-free. With the campaign entering its final day, officials will be watching whether the remaining children in the target districts are reached before it closes on Sunday. Health workers will continue the door-to-door drive through Sunday, and officials have asked families to keep children at home when teams visit so that no child is missed.
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