PESHAWAR: As the fifth and final polio campaign of 2025 concludes, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded a reduction in the number of vaccination refusal cases in the outgoing year.
However, the province has reported 19 new polio cases, the most in the country, according to official figures.
This year, a total of 30 children have been infected with the acute viral disease across the country.
The figures show that during the current month’s polio drive, 100,742 out of the targeted 6.48 million children missed vaccination in the province.
KP reports most cases of the virus in the country this year
Of the unvaccinated children, 82,393 weren’t present at home when vaccinators showed up, while parents of 18,349 children turned away vaccinators. Overall, the unvaccinated children remained only three per cent of the total target.
Officials told Dawn that despite facing violence, health workers reached children for administering polio drops, bringing the number of unvaccinated cases down by around 50 per cent in the current year.
They, however, said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), which spearheaded the anti-polio efforts, had to go a long way to reduce that tally to zero to eliminate polio once and for all.
The officials said the parents refused the children’s vaccination on the basis of misconceptions. They insisted that Islam didn’t allow any medication before the detection of any health problem. However, the contention has already been rejected by religious scholars from international Islamic universities through edicts, saying parents are bound by the religion to protect their children against diseases through vaccination or other valid means.
Some parents claimed that polio vaccination rendered recipients infertile, so it was a plot by anti-Islamic forces to reduce Muslim population. However, exports rejected the argument saying the vaccine carries no such ingredient and instead, it is meant to protect children against disabilities.
Officials said hundreds of children continued to stay uninoculated and get exposed to polio, which had no cure.
They said for every vaccination drive, the EOC deployed around 70,000 individuals who went from door to door under the protection of 50,000 policemen to administer vaccines to children under five years of age for their safety but some families avoided their children’s vaccination on one pretext or another and that vicious cycle went on.
The officials said the same vaccine had eradicated polio from the entire world except Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan but opposition to it had become a regular feature of polio campaigns in the province.
They said decades of efforts had gone to waste as a friction of targeted children remained without vaccination in every drive.
The officials said the province was paying a heavy cost for polio campaigns as five police policemen and two civilians had so far been killed and three police officials suffered injuries this year.
They also said 17 health workers were kidnapped during vaccination campaigns. The UN data shows that a total of 96 people, including 61 policemen, 27 health workers and five civilians, have been killed by terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2012.
According to it, 170 people, including 124 policemen, 28 health workers and 21 civilians, have been injured in attacks on polio teams. During the period, 32 health workers, three civilians and one policeman were kidnapped during vaccination campaigns.
Of the people subjected to violence, 283 were men and 18 women, according to an official report.
Officials urged the government to tackle the vaccination refusal issue administratively to ensure vaccination of all children and make the province polio-free.
They said the worst attack took place in Bajaur in January 2024 when Dr Abdur Rehman, a senior official of polio eradication team, was shot dead and a police constable suffered critical injuries in an armed assault on the team’s vehicle.
The officials said Dr Rehman, 45, was going in his car when he came under attack.
They said adults in Pakistan had to produce a polio vaccination certificate for air travel to any country.
The officials said it was the government’s responsibility to cope with defiant parents administratively, so there was a high likelihood of the next year being no different from the current one with cases continuing to emerge and policemen and health workers dying.
Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2025
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