Pakistan's polio cases fell by half in 2025 despite attacks on vaccination teams

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan reported fewer than half as many cases of polio in 2025 than the previous year, a sign of progress in its eradication campaign even as vaccinators faced repeated militant attacks, according to a statement from the government-run Polio Eradication Initiative.

The announcement came two weeks after Pakistan launched its final nationwide polio vaccination campaign of the year, targeting 45 million children.

Anwarul Haq, who is the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, told The Associated Press that authorities reported 30 cases of the potentially paralyzing disease in 2025, down from 74 a year earlier.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries in which polio has not been eradicated, according to the World Health Organization.

Pakistan’s latest figures highlight both momentum and lingering risks in a campaign that has spanned decades. While vaccination coverage has improved and reported cases have fallen sharply, health officials say continued transmission in a small number of hard-to-reach areas means the country remains vulnerable to setbacks unless immunization efforts are sustained.

Haq said Pakistan will launch its first anti-polio drive of the new year in the first week of February. He said no new infections have been reported anywhere in the country since September, attributing the decline to vaccination drives carried out during the year.

During the most recent vaccination drive, Haq said that more than 98% of the target population was reached. Access challenges persisted during vaccination campaigns, particularly in parts of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where health workers have faced resistance and security constraints.

Militants have repeatedly targeted vaccination workers and the police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming the campaigns are a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.

Authorities deploy thousands of police officers during each vaccination drive following intelligence warnings of possible attacks.

Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and police officers guarding them have been killed in such attacks, officials say.