Islamabad: Militancy, unrest and inaccessibility in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have crippled two more children as the polio eradication initiative struggles to freely vaccinate children in the troubled districts, health officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, has verified two fresh cases of wild poliovirus, one from District Tank and the other from North Waziristan.
A 16-month-old girl from Union Council Mullazai in Tank and a 24-month-old girl from Union Council Miran Shah-3 in North Waziristan have been paralyzed for life, raising Pakistan’s tally of polio cases in 2025 to 23.
According to official data, 15 of these cases have surfaced from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Southern KP remains the epicenter of the crisis, where lawlessness, mistrust, and poor access have repeatedly obstructed vaccination drives, leaving thousands of children vulnerable to a virus that should have been eradicated decades ago.
Polio is an incurable yet preventable disease that spreads rapidly among unvaccinated children, often leading to irreversible paralysis. The only effective protection is through multiple doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for every child under five years, alongside timely routine immunization.
However, limited access, community resistance, and persistent insecurity continue to create immunity gaps in parts of Tank, North Waziristan, and adjoining districts. Health officials admit that despite progress elsewhere in the country, the resurgence of polio in southern KP is a serious warning.
“Continued detections in these districts prove that every unvaccinated child remains at risk,” a senior polio eradication official said, adding that local refusal, misinformation, and security challenges have left children unprotected.
The National and Provincial Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) have now drawn up a robust strategy for the upcoming low-transmission season. The first nationwide campaign is scheduled for September 1–7, 2025, while in southern KP, door-to-door vaccination will begin on September 15 to reach children in high-risk union councils. More than 28 million children under five are targeted in the drive.
Officials say the aim is to urgently boost immunity in these vulnerable communities before the high-transmission season returns. Parents and caregivers are being urged to ensure their children receive polio drops in every campaign and complete routine immunizations.
“Polio eradication is a shared responsibility,” a statement from the National EOC said. “Frontline health workers risk their lives to reach children in these areas, but it is equally important for parents and communities to support vaccination efforts, counter misinformation, and protect their children’s future.”
Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where poliovirus transmission has never been stopped, and health authorities warn that unless southern KP’s barriers are broken, the virus will continue to paralyze children and threaten global eradication goals.
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