ISLAMABAD, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan vaccinated more than 18.6 million children during a sub-national anti-polio campaign conducted across 79 districts from May 18 to 24, authorities said on Thursday.
About 163,000 health workers took part in the campaign targeting high-risk districts in the eastern Punjab province, southern Sindh, northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, southwest Balochistan, and the Islamabad Capital Territory, according to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI), a government-led public health program dedicated to completely eliminating wild poliovirus from the country.
The PEI said the campaign achieved 98 percent coverage, while 88 percent of children initially missed were later vaccinated through follow-up visits.
Pakistan is strengthening coordination with neighboring Afghanistan and finalizing its 2026 National Emergency Action Plan to accelerate eradication efforts, the initiative said.
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where wild poliovirus continues to circulate.
