Pakistan's week-long polio vaccination drive ended on Sunday, 8 November, after vaccinating more than 23.8 million children under the age of five in 97 districts across the country, the National Emergency Operations Centre said.

The campaign, which ran from 2 to 8 November, aimed to reach about 24 million children. More than 200,000 frontline workers went door to door over the seven days, administering two drops of oral polio vaccine to every child under five, whether or not they had been vaccinated before. The final day was spent chasing the children missed in the first six days, with the centre due to release a final tally once the count closed.

Provincial figures

Punjab recorded the largest coverage, with 9.126 million children vaccinated, while 7.019 million children received drops across 20 districts of Sindh. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa aimed to reach more than 4.8 million children in 27 districts, and Balochistan targeted over 2.2 million children across 31 districts, coordinated by 8,888 mobile and stationary vaccination teams.

Federal Minister for National Health Services Syed Mustafa Kamal formally inaugurated the drive at the National Emergency Operations Centre in Islamabad, administering the first drops of the round. First Lady Asifa Bhutto Zardari appealed to parents and caregivers to make sure every eligible child received the vaccine during the campaign.

Nine cases this year

The drive took place against a difficult backdrop. Pakistan has recorded nine polio cases in 2026, seven in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Sindh. The most recent case, confirmed on 5 November, involved a child in Khyber district, where the virus identified across three cases shares direct genetic links with strains circulating in Afghanistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus is still endemic, and the November round was run simultaneously in both countries, with cross-border coordination. Pakistan has cut polio cases by 99.8 per cent since its national eradication programme began in 1994, from an estimated 20,000 cases a year to 31 in 2025. The country aims to eliminate the virus by June 2027, a goal that depends on reaching every eligible child in each round.

Violence during the campaign

The drive was also marked by violence against the teams carrying it out. Two police officers guarding polio workers were shot dead in Mohmand district on 3 November, and four polio workers were abducted in Tank district the day before. A vaccination supervisor was seized in Jamrud during the week. The attacks underline why security escorts travel with the teams in the high-risk districts, and why the campaign's coverage figures matter as much as its size.

This was the third sub-national round of 2026 and the fifth large-scale campaign of the year. The September round protected more than 29.3 million children, a larger figure because it covered more districts. Parents who missed a visit during the November round can call the polio helpline on 1166 or message 0346-7776546 on WhatsApp to arrange vaccination for their child.