Pakistan kicks off nationwide polio vaccination campaign to inoculate over 16.5 mln kids

ISLAMABAD, June 3 (Xinhua) -- A country-wide polio vaccination campaign kicked off in Pakistan on Monday in which over 16.5 million kids under 5 will be inoculated, the Pakistani Health Ministry said.

The five-day campaign comes ahead of massive public movement expected across the country on the occasion of the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha later this month, the ministry said in a statement.

The vaccination will be carried out in 66 districts of the country in which 33 districts will be inoculated completely while 30 districts partially, said the statement.

The campaign focuses on the federal capital Islamabad, 20 districts of the southwestern Balochistan province, 23 districts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 16 districts of the southern Sindh province, and six districts of the eastern Punjab province, it added.

So far in 2024 four polio cases have been detected in the South Asian country, with three cases in Balochistan and one in Sindh.