QUETTA: A week-long polio vaccination campaign has been launched in 32 districts to the Balochistan to immunize 2.3 million children against the crippling disease between Sept. 21 and Sept. 27, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) for Polio Eradication said on Monday.
Overall, Pakistan will vaccinate more than 31 million children under five across 115 high-risk districts that include 32 districts of Balochistan from Sept. 21-27 in a nationwide polio campaign aimed at closing immunity gaps and curbing continued transmission.
Balochistan Emergency Operation Centre Coordinator Inam-ul-Haq said all arrangements for the campaign had been completed and 9,193 vaccination teams had been deployed across the province.
The teams include 621 fixed-site teams and 392 transit-point teams, officials said.
The seven-day campaign will target children under five in 32 designated districts of Balochistan as part of efforts to prevent the spread of poliovirus.
Officials said the campaign was being conducted after two recent environmental samples tested positive for poliovirus in the province, highlighting the continued risk of virus transmission.
The vaccination drive is part of Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to eradicate polio, a highly infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis.
According to the Pakistan Polo Eradication Programme, Pakistan remains one of the countries where wild poliovirus continues to circulate, with four confirmed wild poliovirus type 1 cases reported so far this year, including three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Sindh.
Balochistan reported 27 polio cases in 2024, the highest number among Pakistan’s provinces, compared with 23 cases in Sindh and 22 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The province has since made significant progress in containing the disease, reporting no new polio cases in 2025 or so far in 2026.
