Pakistan begins last anti-polio vaccination drive of the year after surge in new cases
Pakistan just launched their final polio vaccination campaign of the year with a goal of vaccinating 45 million children. So far in 2025 there have been 30 reported cases of polio which is 74 less than 2024. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries that have not been able to eradicate polio. This campaign specifically is their 5th national campaign this year that has 400,000 health workers going door to door offering vaccination. There are some security issues with safety for the workers but with police presence, cross border communication with Afghanistan and intentional framing of polio as not only a public health issue but also a national security problem.
The reason for how polio has not been eradicated is more complex than it appears on the surface. The spread of misinformation and low government support in some areas has caused the continued presence even with the vaccine. The significant decrease in cases in the last year is promising and shows the state being effective and successful with the methods they are using to work through the issue. Within the region the most important connection is with the transmission with Afghanistan, seeing that public health is not a state only issue but rather has regional implications this is very significant. There has been historical distrust of vaccination in Pakistan which helps us to understand part of why this has taken such a long time.
There are many actors at play working to solve this issue. First and foremost the Pakistani government is working very hard to eradicate polio. Some of what they individually have done is to increase security and police presence to protect the health workers and build trust with locals to minimize the spread of misinformation. These actions by the government are critical if Pakistan has a chance to stop the spread of polio. Local communities and families having trust in the vaccine is the only way that people will choose to be vaccinated. Another big key to this is the government being able to build trust with local leaders in communities for the trickle down effect. Finally, international organizations like WHO and the UN are critical for funding, monitoring and distribution of vaccinations.
This issue connects to global politics concepts such as sovereignty, security, global governance, legitimacy, and conflict.