ISLAMABAD– Pakistani authorities launched the last national polio vaccination campaign of the year on Monday, aimed at protecting 45 million children after more than two dozen cases of the potentially crippling disease were reported, officials said.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where polio has not been eradicated.
Pakistan has reported 30 polio cases since January, compared to 74 during the same period last year, according to a statement from the government’s Polio Eradication Initiative.
This is the country’s fifth national vaccination campaign this year. Pakistan regularly carries out such campaigns despite persistent security threats.
Health Minister Mustafa Kamal urged parents to cooperate with vaccination teams. “It’s not just about numbers. Every case threatens a child’s future and the safety of our communities,” Kamal said of the latest polio cases.
According to the statement, more than 400,000 frontline health workers are going door-to-door across Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as well as Islamabad, to ensure that no child is left behind.
Activists have repeatedly targeted vaccination workers and the police charged with protecting them, falsely claiming the campaigns were a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.
Authorities have deployed thousands of police to protect vaccination teams following intelligence reports warning of possible militant attacks.
Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and police officers charged with protecting them have been killed in such attacks.
“The December polio campaign is synchronized with that of Afghanistan, ensuring that the two countries together build immunity to interrupt cross-border transmission,” the statement said.
Officials said Pakistan had made significant progress in containing the virus.
“We are closer than ever to achieving eradication, and this campaign represents a final vital push to stop the virus wherever it is still circulating,” he said.
