Pakistan gets its sixth polio case for 2025 from Sindh

Web Desk: Taking the tally for polio cases in Pakistan to six for the year 2024, Sindh has confirmed its fourth case from Thatta district.

The Pakistan Polio Programme reported the case which was further verified by the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Regional Reference Laboratory. Punjab also reported its first polio case for the year earlier this week from Mandi Bahauddin while Khyber Pukhtunkhwa reported one earlier this year too.

Last year, a total of 74 polio cases were reported nationwide, while 420 polio cases have been reported from the entire country in the past nine years. Over the past 12 years, Pakistan has spent over USD11 billion to eradicate polio. In addition to this, Pakistan has also received USD1 billion from international donors in five years to defeat the poliovirus.

On February 7, 11 officials were suspended owing to negligence during the ongoing polio campaign in Sindh, the chief secretary’s spokesperson confirmed. On the directives of Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Haider Shah, the Karachi Commissioner issued a notification for the same. The suspended polio officials were deployed in various subdivisions of Malir and West districts.

The first nationwide polio campaign of 2025 was successfully conducted from February 3 to 9, and is said to have achieved almost all of its target, with over 45 million children vaccinated. A second phase under the Big Catch-Up initiative is currently underway to provide EPI antigens to children up to five years old.

Another vaccination drive is scheduled from February 24 to 28, focusing on 104 union councils near the Afghan border or hosting Afghan refugee populations. This initiative aims to immunise approximately 660,000 children.

On February 19, gunmen shot dead a Pakistan police officer guarding a polio team in a remote area close to the Afghan border, police said. Polio virus has been confirmed in environmental samples collected from 21 districts of the country, in the latest sewage sampling. Similarly another police officer while guarding polio vaccination team, was killed on February 3 in Jamrud.

The National Emergencies Operation Center (NEOC) said on February 9 said that polio virus was confirmed in environmental samples from Muzaffarabad, Dera Bugti, Hub, Noshki, Nasirabad, Zhob, and Lasbela.