ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities on Monday launched the latest nationwide polio vaccination campaign this year, seeking to protect 45 million children after more than two dozen cases of the potentially crippling disease were reported, officials said.
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where polio has not been eradicated, according to the World Health Organization.
Pakistan has reported 30 polio cases since January, compared with 74 in the same period last year, the government's Polio Eradication Initiative said.
The campaign is the fifth national vaccination drive in the country this year. Pakistan regularly carries out such campaigns despite constant 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.
More than 400,000 frontline health workers are going door-to-door in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as well as Islamabad, to ensure that no child is missed, according to the statement.
Militants have repeatedly attacked vaccination workers and the police charged with protecting them by falsely claiming that these campaigns are a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.
Authorities have deployed thousands of police to protect vaccination groups after intelligence reports warned of possible militant attacks.
Since the 1990s, such attacks have killed more than 200 polio workers and the police guarding them.
“The December polio campaign is synchronized with Afghanistan, ensuring that both countries work together to strengthen immunity to curb cross-border transmission,” the statement said.
Officials said Pakistan has made significant progress in containing the virus.
“We are closer than ever to achieving elimination and this campaign represents a vital final push to stop the virus wherever it is still circulating,” the statement said.
