PESHAWAR: The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has finalised arrangements for the November round of Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs), scheduled to begin on Nov 2, 2026, in selected districts of the province.

Preparations for the campaign were reviewed at a high-level meeting held at the provincial EOC on Friday.

Additional Secretary Health and EOC Coordinator Sarah Rehman chaired the meeting, which was attended by officials of the Health Department and representatives of Unicef, WHO, NSTOP, the Gates Foundation and other relevant stakeholders.

The participants were informed that the campaign aimed to vaccinate more than 4.80 million children under five against polio in the targetted districts.

The drive will be launched simultaneously in Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions, as well as Bajaur, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Upper Chitral, Lower Chitral, Abbottabad, Torghar, Lower Kohistan, Upper Kohistan and Kolai Palas districts.

The campaign will continue for seven days in Peshawar and Khyber districts and four days in the remaining selected districts.

Regarding operational arrangements, the meeting was informed that 20,772 trained polio vaccination teams had been deployed across the targetted areas.

These include 18,630 mobile teams, 1,225 fixed teams and 917 transit teams to ensure that all eligible children receive polio drops. In addition, 4,734 area heads have been assigned to supervise and monitor the teams’ activities.

To ensure the security of the campaign, around 30,000 personnel have also been deployed across the target areas to protect frontline polio workers throughout the vaccination drive.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2026