March 2024: Pakistan targeted over 8.8 million children under age 5 with polio vaccine

Pakistan targeted over 8.8 million children under age 5 with polio vaccine in a March 25-28 campaign spanning three provinces. Coming in the wake of what the government called the country’s first two WPV1 cases of the year, the effort sought to reach districts where the virus had been detected ahead of the high travel season of the Eid holiday. The exercise focused on 11 districts in Balochistan (where both cases occurred), seven in Punjab and eight in Sindh. In Punjab, over 30,000 polio workers and supervisors aimed to immunize 4.5 million children across seven districts, including Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Kasur, Multan, Okara and Rahim Yar Khan. Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme; Government of Pakistan (1); Government of Pakistan (2); 24 News HD; Business Recorder