Pakistan’s polio cases fell by half in 2025 despite attacks on vaccination teams
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan will report fewer than half polio cases in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to a statement from the government-run Polio Eradication Initiative; This marks a sign of progress in the eradication campaign, even as vaccinators face repeated militant attacks.
The announcement comes two weeks after the Pakistan launch. latest nationwide polio vaccination campaign 45 million children of the year are targeted.
Enverul HaqOfficials are reporting 30 cases of the potentially paralyzing disease in 2025, down from 74 cases the previous year, the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication told The Associated Press.
According to the World Health Organization, the only two countries where polio has not been completely eliminated are Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s latest figures underscore both the momentum and the ongoing risks of a campaign that has spanned decades. While vaccination coverage has improved and reported cases have fallen sharply, health officials say the continued rollout in a small number of hard-to-reach areas means the country will remain vulnerable unless vaccination efforts are sustained.
Haq said Pakistan will launch its first anti-polio campaign of the new year in the first week of February. Stating that no new infection has been reported anywhere in the country since September, the official said that this decrease was attributed to the vaccination campaigns carried out during the year.
Haq said more than 98% of the target population was reached during the latest vaccination campaign. Access challenges persisted during vaccination campaigns, particularly in parts of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where health workers faced resistance and security restrictions.
Militants have repeatedly targeted vaccination workers and the police charged with protecting the campaigns, claiming they were a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.
Authorities deploy thousands of police officers during each vaccination campaign following intelligence warnings of possible attacks.
Authorities say more than 200 polio workers and the police officers protecting them have been killed in such attacks since the 1990s.
