PESHAWAR, Pakistan — — The fight against polio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has seen a positive turn as officials report a significant decline in parental refusals during the fifth and final polio vaccination campaign of 2025. However, despite this improvement, health authorities warn that the threat of polio remains serious, and challenges in eradicating the disease persist across the province.
- Health officials revealed that KP recorded the highest number of polio cases in Pakistan this year, with 19 confirmed infections out of the country’s total of 30. During the recent campaign, roughly 6.48 million children under five were targeted, but 100,742 missed out on vaccination. Of these, 82,393 were absent during house-to-house visits, while 18,349 children were denied vaccination due to parental refusal. Although refusals still exist, the number represents nearly a 50 percent decrease from previous campaigns, marking a hopeful development in the province’s ongoing polio eradication efforts.
Officials credited the decline to intensive outreach by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) and the tireless work of vaccinators who visited households even in high-risk and difficult areas. Authorities noted that misinformation and misconceptions about the polio vaccine continue to fuel hesitancy in some communities. Some parents mistakenly believe that the vaccine is religiously prohibited or may cause infertility — claims that have been repeatedly debunked by medical experts and religious scholars.
Despite the encouraging trend, hundreds of children remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to polio, particularly in high-risk districts where wild poliovirus continues to circulate. Health authorities emphasised that vaccination remains the only effective defence against this crippling disease, which has no cure and can cause lifelong paralysis.
The campaign also highlighted the challenges faced by vaccinators, who often operate under threatening and dangerous conditions. Previous drives have seen health workers and security personnel injured, kidnapped, or even killed, underscoring the persistent risks involved in eradicating polio in certain areas.
Officials have called on the government to adopt robust administrative and community-based measures to ensure complete vaccination coverage. They stressed that eliminating polio from KP and Pakistan as a whole will require continuous public cooperation, political backing, and sustained efforts from health authorities. The decline in refusals offers hope, but the mission is far from complete, and authorities warn that vigilance must continue until every child is vaccinated.
This story has been reported by PakTribune. All rights reserved.