Health minister launches last nationwide polio campaign of 2025, notes declines in cases in Pakistan

Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Thursday launched the last nationwide polio campaign of 2025 aiming to vaccinate over 45 million children against the crippling disease, noting that the number of cases in the country had reduced.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. So far, the country has recorded 30 polio cases, with the highest number of cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 19.

Launching the last polio campaign of the year — set to run from December 15 to December 2 — at a ceremony in Islamabad, the minister noted the decline in cases in comparison to 2024, saying, “We have succeeded in reducing polio cases in the country.”

He recalled that Pakistan had recorded 74 cases in 2024; however, this year the country only saw 30 cases.

The minister said that the virus was “present in more than half of the country,” including Peshawar, Karachi, and Lahore.

He stated that the government remained “determined to eliminate the virus in the country by year’s end and called on all parties to “play their part”.

Kamal noted that 19 out of 30 cases reported this year were from KP, out of which 16 were from the south of the province. He said that 200,000 children in south KP had not been immunised against polio due to the “law and order situation”.

The minister further said more than 400,000 polio workers would be involved in the latest campaign, calling on parents to cooperate with polio teams.

Kamal also called on scholars to play their role in polio campaigns. The minister also urged citizens to “not fall for any negative propaganda” against the drive.

He also called on elected representatives to “administer polio drops to people from their families and make a video to further encourage people”.

Anti-polio drive to be held from Dec 15-21

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) said that the polio campaign would be held from Dec 15-21, to vaccinate around 45.5m children.

In a statement, the body said, “More than 400,000 frontline polio workers will take part in the campaign”.

It said more than 23m children will be immunised in Punjab, over 16m in Sindh, more than 7.2m in KP and over 2.6m in Balochistan. In Islamabad, the campaign aims to vaccinate over 400,000 children.

The NEOC urged parents to cooperate with polio workers and ensure the vaccination of their children.

On October 21, a case of wild poliovirus was confirmed in KP’s Torghar, taking the tally of cases for this year to 30.

In 2024, the country reported at least 71 polio cases, with the virus detected in around 90 districts.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, along with the timely completion of all essential immunisations.