ISLAMABAD: Pakistan vaccinated 44.6 million children against poliovirus during the final nationwide immunization campaign of the year, health officials announced on Monday. The seven-day anti-polio drive commenced on December 15 and targeted children under the age of five nationwide.
The campaign was carried out simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), which coordinates polio eradication efforts.
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries in the world where the transmission of wild poliovirus has never been fully stopped.
Health experts warn that the continued presence of the virus poses a threat to global eradication goals. Polio can cause permanent paralysis and has no cure, but it can be prevented through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine.
“The final National Polio Eradication Campaign of 2025 has been successfully concluded,” the EOC said in a statement. “During the national polio campaign, vaccination of more than 44.6 million children was successfully completed.”
Providing a regional breakdown, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) said about 22.9 million children were administered polio drops in Punjab, 10.6 million in Sindh, over 7.1 million in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and more than 2.54 million in Balochistan.
In the federal capital, Islamabad, more than 450,000 children received the vaccine, while approximately 274,000 children were vaccinated in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, according to the NEOC. In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, over 714,000 children were immunized during the campaign.
According to global polio surveillance data, Pakistan has reported 30 of the 39 confirmed cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) recorded worldwide in 2025, with the remaining cases detected in neighboring Afghanistan.
The country recorded 74 polio cases in 2024, marking a sharp rise from six cases in 2023 and just one case in 2021.
The surge underscores ongoing challenges in eradication efforts, including misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and security concerns that have periodically disrupted immunization drives.
Health experts say that sustained campaigns, strengthened surveillance, and community awareness are crucial to achieving the long-sought goal of a polio-free Pakistan.
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis.
The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.
