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Arab News
3 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Pakistan says 96% of children vaccinated in ongoing anti-polio drive
KARACHI: Polio vaccinations continued across Pakistan for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday, with 96% of targeted children receiving doses during the first five days of the campaign, the country's National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said in a statement. Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic, alongside neighboring Afghanistan. Efforts to eliminate the disease have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on polio workers by militant groups. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted during these campaigns. 'During the first five days, 96% of children across the country have been administered polio drops,' the NEOC said at the start of the campaign's sixth day. 'The vaccination campaign is underway simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan,' it continued, adding this was to curb cross-border transmission of the virus, especially in frontier regions where mobility between the two countries remains high. According to Pakistani officials, the current vaccination drive aims to reach more than 45 million children nationwide. It is part of Pakistan's intensified response following a sharp uptick in cases last year, when 74 children were diagnosed with the crippling virus. Ten cases have been reported so far in 2025, prompting authorities to step up outreach and door-to-door campaigns. According to the NEOC, provincial breakdowns so far show 97% coverage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 96% in both Punjab and Balochistan, 94% in Sindh, 98% in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 101% in Gilgit-Baltistan, where more children were reached than initially estimated. Islamabad reported 97% coverage. In Balochistan, the country's most underdeveloped province that reported 27 cases last year, local authorities introduced recreational activities such as free swings and camel rides in Quetta to attract children and facilitate their vaccination. The effort drew large crowds, allowing teams to immunize children while they took part in the festivities. 'This initiative is critically important as we enter the high-transmission season,' said Ziaur Rehman, spokesperson for Pakistan's Polio Program. 'It will play a key role in timely containment of the virus.' He urged parents to ensure that all children under five receive polio drops to protect them from lifelong disability.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Gunmen kill police officer assigned to protect polio workers in southwestern Pakistan
This is a locator map for Pakistan with its capital, Islamabad, and the Kashmir region. (AP Photo) QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen shot and killed a police officer assigned to protect polio workers in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday before fleeing the scene, police and officials said. The attack occurred in Noshki, a district in Balochistan province, local police official Mohammad Hassan said, adding that the polio workers escaped unharmed in the attack. The female health workers were administering oral polio vaccine drops to children inside a house when the assailants opened fire on the officer, Abdul Waheed, who died on the way to the hospital, Hassan said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban that have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in separate statements denounced the assault and vowed stern action against those behind the attack, which came a day after Pakistan launched the nationwide campaign to vaccinate 45 million children from polio. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the spread of the wild polio virus hasn't been stopped, according to the World Health Organization. There are ongoing outbreaks of polio linked to the oral vaccine in 10 other countries, mostly in Africa. Since January, Pakistan has reported 10 polio cases from various parts of the country despite the launch of immunization drives. Last year, the South Asian country witnessed a surge in polio cases, which jumped to 74, though it reported only one polio case in 2021. Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and the police assigned to protect them have been killed in attacks. The Associated Press
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Gunmen shoot and kill policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive NW Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed a policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday before fleeing the scene, police and officials said. The attack occurred in Noshki, a district in Balochistan province, local police official Mohammad Hassan said, adding that the polio workers escaped unharmed in the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban that have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in a statement denounced the assault and vowed stern action against those who are behind the attack, which came a day after Pakistan launched the nationwide campaign to vaccinate 45 million children from polio. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the potentially fatal, paralyzing virus hasn't been stopped, according to the World Health Organization. Since January, Pakistan has reported 10 polio cases from various parts of the country despite the launch of anti-polio drives. Last year, the South Asian country witnessed a surge in polio cases, which jumped to 74, though it reported only one polio case in 2021. Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and the police assigned to protect them have been killed in attacks.
