More than 22.1 million children have been vaccinated against polio during the first four days of an ongoing sub-national immunisation campaign across 97 selected districts of the country, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said on Friday.
According to the NEOC, the campaign entered its fifth day on Friday, with vaccination activities scheduled to continue until November 8.
The drive aims to immunise approximately 24 million children under the age of five, with more than 200,000 frontline polio workers participating in the exercise.
The NEOC said the campaign was being conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan to strengthen regional efforts to eradicate the disease and prevent cross-border transmission of poliovirus.
According to provincial and regional data, Punjab recorded the highest number of vaccinations, with 8.535 million children administered polio drops across 13 selected districts during the first four days.
In Sindh, more than 6.382 million children were vaccinated in 20 districts, while over 4.429 million children received polio drops in 27 selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Similarly, 2.008 million children were immunised in 31 selected districts of Balochistan.
In Islamabad, more than 450,000 children received polio drops, while approximately 160,000 children were vaccinated in three selected districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Meanwhile, around 192,000 children were immunised in two selected districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir during the same period.
The NEOC warned that the threat of poliovirus continued to persist across the country, stressing that polio was an incurable disease and vaccination remained the only effective means of protecting children against lifelong disability.
It urged parents and caregivers to cooperate fully with frontline vaccination teams and ensure that all children under five received polio drops during the ongoing campaign.
Parents were also advised to complete their children’s routine immunisation schedules on time to ensure protection against other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The NEOC emphasised that sustained public cooperation, repeated vaccination and collective efforts were essential to achieving the goal of a polio-free Pakistan
