KP polio eradication drive begins April 21

A five-day anti-polio campaign is scheduled to begin across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) from April 21, aiming to immunize over six million children against the crippling disease.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department has launched a major polio vaccination campaign in Peshawar, aiming to administer polio drops to over 800000 children. To make this drive successful, more than 30,000 vaccination teams have been formed, while around 50000 police officers will be deployed for security.

So far in 2025, one polio case has been reported in KP, which has raised concerns and pushed health officials to continue aggressive vaccination efforts to stop the virus from spreading.

This campaign comes after a sub-national anti-polio drive in 2024, which narrowly missed its target. Out of the 36.36 million children targeted across the country, around 35.71 million were successfully vaccinated, covering 98% of the target. However, over 1.1 million children still missed out.

Health department sources shared that 739201 children were not available during the last campaign, while 71330 parents refused to vaccinate their children. In total, 302006 children missed polio drops during that drive, which remains a cause for concern.

Officials are now urging parents to fully cooperate with health teams and ensure that no child is left unvaccinated. They stressed that the polio virus can only be eliminated with consistent efforts and public support.

This campaign is seen as a crucial step toward the goal of making Pakistan polio-free. Authorities are also focusing on raising awareness, especially in areas where resistance to vaccination has been observed in the past.