EVERY announcement of a vaccination campaign reflects Pakistan’s recognition of the polio problem and a resolve to defeat the crippling virus. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has launched the final nationwide polio drive of 2025 with the goal to immunise over 45m children. The minister said that the number of polio incidents in the country was lower than last year’s shameful count of 74. Yet he conceded that the scourge exists in “more than half the country”. The government has forgotten that in 2022, Unicef described Pakistan as “closest to the finish line”. Since then, we have only regressed. Together with Afghanistan, Pakistan is a persistent outlier due to multiple reasons. Hence, the year’s 30 polio cases, 19 of them in KP, must not be taken lightly nor should health officials continue with the misplaced hope of eradicating polio. Lasting impact can only be achieved when the virus is attacked through a modern, multipronged approach.

These initiatives have been witnessed before but success is still a long shot. Pakistan’s polio eradication programme is plagued with malpractices, vaccine refusals, assaults on polio workers, disparities in immunistion coverage and misinformation. This failure is exacerbated by the virus being detected in sewage samples, along with security issues in KP and Balochistan, suggesting a lack of political will to save children. Officialdom must implement modern strategies to combat resistance and baseless notions of infertility attached to the vaccine, ensure access, and hold officials accountable for gaps. Media campaigns highlighting the crucial need for inoculation should involve celebrities and religious leaders to counter regressive attitudes. Polio cannot be allowed to exist in conservative regions where unawareness triumphs over scientific proof. In 2022, a Baloch cleric championed the polio vaccine administration in an attempt to enlighten through religion. This must continue. We cannot lose our children to this curse.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2025