ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - More than 27 million children have been vaccinated against polio during the second nationwide immunisation campaign this year from Apr 13-19, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said on Wednesday.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that can cause permanent paralysis, mainly affecting children under five. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries where the disease remains endemic.
Pakistan, which conducted its first nationwide polio campaign of the year in February, has reduced polio cases by 99.8 percent since the early 1990s — from an estimated 20,000 cases to just 31 in 2025, according to the NEOC.
“More than 27 million children have been vaccinated nationwide during the first two days of the campaign,” the NEOC said in a statement.
“More than 400,000 polio workers are going door-to-door administering polio drops to children.”
It said more than 14.2 million children were vaccinated in Punjab province, over six million in Sindh, more than 4.3 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over 1.4 million in Balochistan, around 283,000 in Islamabad, over 188,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and around 474,000 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Vitamin A supplements are also being provided to children during the campaign, which is being conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the NEOC added.
Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams, prompting the government to assign security personnel to protect them, though it has not stopped deadly attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.