Islamabad: Pakistan has reported its first wild poliovirus case of 2026 after a four-year-old child from Bello Union Council in Sujawal district of Sindh tested positive for the crippling virus, health authorities confirmed on Thursday, raising fresh concerns about continued virus circulation in high-risk areas despite intensive nationwide vaccination campaigns.
Officials at the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication said the case was detected through the country’s polio surveillance network and later confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad.
Health authorities said the Polio Eradication Initiative has begun analysing the case and assessing the most effective response to prevent further transmission of the virus in the area and surrounding districts.
The detection of the case highlights the continued vulnerability of certain districts in Sindh and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the poliovirus has continued to circulate despite repeated vaccination campaigns.
Officials noted that while Pakistan has made substantial progress against the disease over the past three decades, the virus has not yet been eliminated completely and sporadic cases continue to appear when immunity gaps persist among children.
Since the launch of the global polio eradication effort in the 1990s, Pakistan has reduced the burden of the disease by almost 99.8 percent. From thousands of estimated cases each year in the early 1990s, the number of confirmed infections dropped to 31 cases in 2025.
Health officials say the progress reflects sustained vaccination efforts carried out across the country, including repeated nationwide immunisation campaigns targeting millions of children.
In 2026 alone, Pakistan has already conducted a nationwide anti polio campaign that vaccinated more than 45 million children under the age of five. Another national campaign is scheduled to be carried out in April to further strengthen immunity against the virus.
During 2025, the polio eradication programme implemented five nationwide vaccination drives along with several targeted campaigns in high risk districts. These efforts also included the use of both oral polio vaccine and injectable polio vaccine alongside activities integrated with the national routine immunisation programme.
Officials say that although environmental surveillance data show an overall decline in poliovirus detections compared with 2024, the virus continues to be detected in sewage samples from some districts, indicating that transmission has not yet been fully interrupted.
Health experts warn that as long as the virus continues to circulate in any part of the country, children remain at risk of infection and paralysis if they miss vaccination.
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that primarily affects young children and can lead to permanent paralysis and even death. There is no cure for polio, but the disease can be prevented through repeated doses of safe and effective vaccines.
Health authorities emphasised that vaccination remains the only reliable protection against the disease and urged parents to ensure that their children receive all recommended doses during every campaign as well as through routine immunisation services.
Officials also stressed that community support remains critical for achieving eradication, noting that religious leaders, community elders and the media have an important role in encouraging vaccination and countering misinformation about the vaccine.
With Pakistan and Afghanistan remaining the only two countries where wild poliovirus transmission continues, health authorities say sustained vigilance, high quality vaccination campaigns and community cooperation will be essential to achieve the long awaited goal of a polio free world.
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