KARACHI : Pakistan has vaccinated more than 18 million children in the first five days of a nationwide anti-polio campaign, health authorities said on Friday, as the country grapples with a resurgence of the crippling virus that has caused 24 cases so far this year.
The weeklong drive, running from Sept. 1–9, is Pakistan’s fourth anti-polio campaign of 2025 and aims to immunize 28.7 million children under five across 99 high-risk districts, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).
“So far, more than 18 million children have been vaccinated against polio,” the NEOC said in a statement.
Vaccinations include 4 million children in Punjab, 7.6 million in Sindh, 3.7 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1.9 million in Balochistan, 368,000 in Islamabad, 112,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 164,000 in Azad Kashmir.
The campaign, conducted simultaneously with neighboring Afghanistan — the only other country where polio remains endemic — — was delayed in nine Punjab districts due to flooding and will begin in parts of southern KP, including Bajaur and Upper Dir, on Sept. 15.
