Pakistan vows polio eradication as 2026 tally reaches sevenHealth

“We must sustain the progress achieved so far,” she said, thanking partners and frontline workers for their role in the effort. “We will soon completely eradicate the disease from Pakistan,” she added, according to Dawn.

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) said the country stood at a decisive point in its public health history. Its Secretary General, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, said the seven cases recorded as of October 2026 comprised five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Sindh, reflecting continued localised transmission of the virus.

The PMA also condemned violent attacks on vaccination teams and their security escorts. It referred to an attack in Balochistan in September in which two police constables protecting a polio team lost their lives, and called on all provincial governments to place health workers, door-to-door teams and immunisation centres under high-security protection frameworks.

Rotary International reaffirmed its long-standing support for Pakistan’s eradication drive. Its president, Olayinka Hakeem Babalola, said the organisation had contributed more than $3 billion to the global effort, including $1.3 million from Rotary members in Pakistan, and had helped protect more than 45 million children in the country from the paralysing disease.

Aziz Memon, chair of Rotary’s Pakistan National PolioPlus Committee, said Pakistan was showing strong progress with only a handful of cases this year, and that addressing other community needs alongside vaccination was helping to maintain public trust.

Tributes to frontline workers were a central theme of the day’s events. In Rawalpindi, Test cricketer Sajid Khan joined Punjab Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Khalid Parvaiz and the centre’s team at a local college for an event held under the theme “Shukriya Frontline Workers”, honouring the vaccinators who go door to door to protect children from lifelong disability.

Sajid Khan praised the commitment of polio workers and urged parents to make sure children under five receive polio drops during every campaign. He also called on young people to play an active role in raising awareness about vaccination and countering misinformation.

Khalid Parvaiz said the dedication of frontline workers, together with the support of parents, communities and government institutions, remained essential to reaching every child and stopping the virus from spreading. He noted that Punjab had reported no polio cases in 2026 to date, but stressed that vigilance must continue because population movement means the virus could still reach any community.

Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus is still endemic, alongside Afghanistan, making the final phase of eradication both the most difficult and the most important. Health officials say sustaining vaccination coverage, protecting frontline teams and countering misinformation will decide whether the country can finally consign polio to history.