Pakistan Launches New Vaccination Campaign Amid Polio Outbreak

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has launched a nationwide vaccination campaign targeting 45 million children in an effort to curb the recent surge in polio cases. This initiative, the third of its kind this year, will continue until Sunday, aiming to protect children under the age of five from the crippling disease.

Pakistan regularly conducts such campaigns, but resistance from militants, who falsely claim the vaccinations are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children, is a persistent challenge. The campaign involves health workers and police assigned to escort them, facing potential threats from these groups.

The campaign is being carried out in response to the “alarming increase in polio cases,” according to Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister’s adviser for the polio eradication program. “We are re-energized in our efforts to combat polio,” she said in a statement.

During the door-to-door campaign, children younger than 5 will be vaccinated and given drops of Vitamin A supplements to enhance their immunity.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently met with front-line health workers, urging them to ensure no child was left unvaccinated by going door-to-door.

Anwarul Haq, who is the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, also urged parents to fully cooperate with polio workers. “Polio has no cure, but it can be prevented with this readily available vaccine,” he said.

Pakistan has recorded 41 cases across 71 districts so far this year, Farooq said. Most were reported from southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.

The surge in cases in new locations is worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September  a door-to-door vaccination campaign.

Authorities in Pakistan say the Afghan Taliban’s recent decision to stop door-to-door anti-polio campaign will have repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country. The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are  where the spread of polio has never been stopped. It is one of the world’s most infectious diseases, so it continues to spread anywhere people are not fully vaccinated. In severe cases, polio can cause permanent paralysis and death.