Nationwide polio vaccination drive to launch on Oct 25 in Pakistan

A nationwide polio vaccination campaign will start on October 25, aiming to immunize over 4.5 million children across Pakistan. The drive will be conducted in three stages, beginning with Sindh province.

The first phase launches on October 25 in Sindh, followed by the second phase in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 28. The third phase will start on November 11, covering Punjab, Balochistan, and Islamabad.

The campaign targets vaccinating over 4.5 million children: 2.3 million in Punjab, 1.6 million in Sindh, 730,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 265,000 in Balochistan.

Additionally, 461,125 children will be vaccinated in Islamabad, 740,000 in Azad Kashmir, and 281,232 in Gilgit-Baltistan. The drive will also provide vitamin A supplements for children aged 6 to 59 months, with 455,504 frontline workers deployed for the effort.

Recently, two new polio cases were reported in the Sanghar and Mirpur Khas districts of Sindh, raising the year’s total to 39 cases in Pakistan. The National Reference Lab of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed these cases.

Earlier, three new polio cases were detected in Balochistan, bringing the total in the province to 20 this year.

The affected children include a nine-month-old from Chaman, an 18-month-old from Pishin, and a five-year-old from Nushki, all left disabled due to the disease.

Health authorities are ramping up efforts to combat the virus and protect at-risk children.