28.2 million children vaccinated in weeklong polio campaign
• Security-related issues in Bannu remain biggest threat to eradication
• Country expects sevenfold drop in polio cases this year
ISLAMABAD: Health workers vaccinated more than 28.2 million children across Pakistan during a weeklong sub-national polio campaign, officials said, as the country expects a sevenfold decrease in cases this year.
The vaccination drive, which ran simultaneously in neighbouring Afghanistan from Sept 21 to 27, deployed over 273,000 workers across 112 Pakistani districts, according to data from the National Emergency Operations Centre.
Pakistan has reported just four polio cases in 2026 — three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Sindh — down significantly from 31 cases in 2025 and 74 in 2024.
Officials attribute the drop to improved campaign performance and the onset of winter, re-cognised as a low-transmission season because the virus becomes largely dormant in cold temperatures.
“The ongoing calendar year has proved to be much better in terms of performance,” Anwarul Haq, head of the Pakistan Polio Programme, told Dawn. “Moreover, as we have entered into the low-transmission season, there are fewer chances of polio cases.”
Despite the progress, severe security challenges threaten eradication efforts in the northwest. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, the origin of three of this year’s cases, remains a critical vulnerability.
“There are severe security-related issues in Bannu where not only polio campaigns are stopped, but at times polio team workers are also kidnapped,” said a polio expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“There is a need to address the security-related issues in Bannu because it is the only place from where the polio virus can bounce back.”
Additionally, the campaign was postponed in three Punjab districts: Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur.
Across the rest of the country, the campaign reached its targets. Health workers administered the vaccine to more than 10.1m children in 30 districts of Sindh, 8m in 10 districts of Punjab, 7m in 37 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 2.3m in 32 districts of Balochistan.
An additional 443,000 children were vaccinated in Islamabad, along with 140,000 in two districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The NEOC praised the coordination among provincial administrations, health departments, partner organisations and law enforcement. The centre reiterated that while polio is incurable, it is entirely preventable, urging parents to ensure all children under 5 receive the drops during every campaign.
Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026
