KARACHI: A week-long anti-polio vaccination campaign will begin across Karachi on July 6, with authorities aiming to immunise 2.5 million children under the age of five, officials said the other day.
The decision was reviewed at a meeting chaired by Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi, where officials were briefed on preparations for the campaign.
According to the briefing, around 26,000 frontline polio workers will participate in the drive, while 7,000 security personnel will be deployed to ensure the safety of vaccination teams.
Mr Naqvi directed all deputy commissioners to pay particular attention to children who are missed during the campaign as well as families refusing vaccination, stressing that no eligible child should be left unvaccinated.
He also instructed district administrations to ensure that campaign targets were fully achieved through effective monitoring and coordination.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus transmission has never been interrupted, alongside Afghanistan, despite decades of nationwide vaccination campaigns.
Health experts have repeatedly warned that missed children, vaccine refusals, population movement and security challenges continue to hamper efforts to eliminate the crippling disease.
The country has received billions of rupees in financial and technical support over the years from international partners — including the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and other donors — with annual funding for Pakistan’s eradication programme typically running into hundreds of millions of dollars.
The assistance supports vaccine procurement, surveillance, logistics, awareness campaigns and operational costs.
Despite the sustained international backing and repeated nationwide immunisation drives, Pakistan has yet to achieve its long-standing goal of becoming polio-free, underscoring the need for stronger implementation, higher vaccination coverage and greater community acceptance to finally interrupt virus transmission.
