Pakistan has confirmed its 46th case of wild poliovirus (WPV1) in 2024, with the latest case identified in a male child from the Killa Saifullah district in Balochistan. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed this detection on November 4.
This marks the second case reported from Killa Saifullah, where environmental samples had previously tested positive for the virus. Balochistan is the most affected province, reporting a total of 23 cases. Other provinces have also seen increases, with Sindh reporting 12 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) nine, and one case each in Punjab and Islamabad.
The ongoing circulation of WPV1 across 76 districts highlights the widespread presence of the virus, posing a significant risk to children’s health. Genetic sequencing of the sample collected from the child is currently in progress.
Balochistan has faced severe challenges in its fight against polio this year, with several vaccination campaigns disrupted by local protests and security concerns, contributing to the high number of cases in the region. Experts emphasize the importance of ensuring that every child under five receives multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) to curb the spread of the virus. The government is urging parents to complete their children’s vaccination schedules to ensure full protection.
Recently, Punjab successfully completed its third national polio immunization drive of the year, vaccinating thousands of children. This campaign, which concluded on November 3, aimed to prevent the virus’s circulation in the region and covered 33 districts, with vaccination efforts extended until November 5 in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad to ensure complete coverage. Over 200,000 vaccination teams went door-to-door, targeting areas where children were previously marked as “not-available” for vaccination. Preliminary reports indicate that more than 23 million children were vaccinated in Punjab alone during this campaign.
However, Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate polio are facing serious challenges due to militant attacks and widespread misinformation hindering vaccination initiatives. As the last two countries where polio remains endemic, Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to see the virus’s spread, particularly affecting children under five and leading to life-long paralysis in many cases.
In a tragic incident last week, seven people, including five children, were killed in a bombing that targeted police guarding vaccine teams. Additionally, two police officers were shot by militants in earlier attacks. Mistrust surrounding the vaccine has been a significant obstacle, fueled by misleading claims from some religious clerics, who falsely assert that the vaccine contains pork or alcohol. A 2011 CIA-backed fake vaccination campaign aimed at tracking Osama bin Laden has also deepened suspicions regarding the vaccine’s legitimacy.
The situation has been further complicated by the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021, leading to an increase in militant activity across the border, which puts vaccination teams and their security personnel at heightened risk.
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