One million children ‘missed’ as refusals haunt Pakistan’s first polio drive of 2026

ISLAMABAD: Around one million children were missed and nearly 53,000 refusals recorded during Pakistan’s first nationwide polio vaccination campaign of the year, with Karachi accounting for the largest share of refusals, officials said.

The campaign, which concluded on February 5 in most parts of the country and on February 8 in Sindh, saw polio drops administered to more than 44.3 million children — a major milestone in ongoing efforts to eradicate the virus.

Despite an overall household coverage of 98 per cent, the sheer size of the missed population remains a cause for concern. Official data shows that about 0.95 million children were not vaccinated, with nearly 670,000 missed because they were not available at home when vaccinators visited.

During the drive, around 2.5 million “guest children” were also vaccinated, likely covering a substantial portion of those initially marked as unavailable.

An official from the programme said 233,000 children were left unvaccinated due to security challenges, community boycotts and snow-bound areas. Of these, 184,000 were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including 113,000 from the province’s southern districts. In Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, nearly 50,000 children remained unreachable because of harsh weather and the non-conduct of campaigns.

In Balochistan, vaccination drives were postponed in Mastung, Gwadar, Chagai and Awaran due to security concerns. Overall, refusals accounted for 0.14 per cent of the total target population, with Karachi alone reporting 31,000 refusals — 58 per cent of the national total.

In a statement, the National Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders involved in the campaign. It said more than 22.9 million children were vaccinated in Punjab, over 10.5 million in Sindh, more than 7.13 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and over 2.36 million in Balochistan.

In Islamabad, over 455,000 children received the drops, while approximately 261,000 were vaccinated in Gilgit-Baltistan and more than 673,000 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The EOC also noted that the campaign was conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan, reflecting strengthened cross-border coordination to interrupt poliovirus transmission.