Polio drive begins in 97 districts as Pakistan reports eighth case of 2026

Pakistan on Monday launched a week-long subnational polio vaccination campaign aimed at around 24 million children under five in 97 districts, as provinces stepped up efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

The campaign, running from November 2 to 8, will involve more than 200,000 frontline workers. It is being conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the only two countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic.

New case adds urgency

The drive follows the confirmation of Pakistan’s eighth polio case of 2026, involving a 13-month-old girl in Bara tehsil of Khyber district. The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) for Polio Eradication confirmed it on November 1. It is the second case from Khyber district this year, and the sixth from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The other two cases were reported in Sindh. The NEOC urged parents to make sure every child under five receives the oral polio vaccine during the campaign and in the rounds that follow.

Sindh

In Sindh, health authorities aim to vaccinate 6.8 million children across 20 districts through door-to-door teams and fixed vaccination sites. Sindh Health Secretary Tahir Hussain Sangi inaugurated the campaign in Karachi on Saturday and urged parents to ensure that no child was missed.

He said six environmental samples had tested positive for poliovirus this month, compared with one in the previous month. Environmental samples are taken from sewage and are used to track whether the virus is circulating in a community, including where no paralysis case has been reported.

Punjab and Balochistan

Punjab is targeting approximately 9.3 million children in 13 selected districts, including Rawalpindi. Balochistan has launched its campaign across 31 districts and aims to reach more than 2.2 million children. The province has formed 8,888 vaccination teams and has reported no polio case since November 2024.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

In KP, the province that has recorded most of this year’s cases, the campaign aims to vaccinate more than 4.8 million children across 27 districts.

Why repeated doses matter

Health authorities have urged parents to cooperate with vaccination teams and to open their doors to them. Polio is incurable but preventable. Protection depends on repeated doses of the oral vaccine alongside routine immunisation, which is why children are given drops in every round, whether or not they were vaccinated before.