Pakistan's Polio Campaign Reached 29.3 Million Children, 627,776 Still Missed

Pakistan's September polio campaign vaccinated more than 29.3 million children under five, the polio programme said on 7 October 2026. But 627,776 children were still missed at the end of the week, and the drive did not run at all in two Punjab districts, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur.

If your child under five did not get two drops between 21 and 27 September, call the free Sehat Tahaffuz Helpline on 1166 or the polio WhatsApp helpline on 0346-7776546. A team can still come to your home.

The September polio campaign reached 29.3 million children

The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), which runs the polio programme, says the campaign vaccinated more than 29.3 million children in 113 districts. It ran from 21 to 27 September 2026 and was the fourth polio campaign of the year.

More than 273,000 frontline workers went door to door. Each child under five was meant to get two drops of the oral polio vaccine, known as OPV. The campaign ran at the same time as one in Afghanistan, so children crossing the border were covered on both sides.

The programme says coverage reached 100 per cent of the target in the districts it covered. That figure counts children reached against the plan. It does not mean no child was missed, and the same release says plainly that some were.

Sindh vaccinated the most children, Punjab came second

Sindh vaccinated more than 10.14 million children in 30 districts, the largest share. Punjab followed with 9.07 million in 11 districts. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad and two Gilgit-Baltistan districts made up the rest.

These are early figures. The NEOC calls them preliminary campaign data, so the final count may move a little. We added the district numbers ourselves: they come to 113, which matches the NEOC total.

Before the campaign, the programme had planned for 115 districts and more than 31 million children. The September polio campaign plan gave those targets. Two districts dropped out, which explains most of the gap.

Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur missed the campaign

The drive was put off in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur in Punjab. The NEOC says security staff needed to protect the teams were sent to other essential duties. It says the campaign will be held in both districts later, but it has not given a date.

That matters for families there. A child who missed this round has gone longer without an extra dose than children in other districts. Routine vaccines at the nearest government health centre are still free and still running, so do not wait for the door-to-door team if your baby is due for a dose.

Parents in these two districts can ask on 1166 when the teams are coming. We will update this when the programme announces the new dates.

627,776 children were still missed at the end of the week

The NEOC says 14.8 per cent of children were missed on the first visit, because they were out, a parent refused, or for other reasons. Teams then went back. They reached 86 per cent of those children on the revisit.

That still left 627,776 children unvaccinated, about 2.1 per cent of the target. Each one is a gap the virus can use. Pakistan has six polio cases so far in 2026, and four of them are from southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the programme says insecurity keeps teams from reaching some homes. The sixth polio case of 2026, a seven-year-old boy in Khyber district, was confirmed just before this release.

Refusal is the part parents control. The NEOC asks families to give the drops in every campaign, however many doses a child has had before. Extra doses are safe and each one adds protection.

What to do if your child missed the polio drops

A missed child can still be vaccinated. You do not need to wait for the next campaign.

1. Check your child's age. Every child under five years needs the drops in every campaign.
2. Call the Sehat Tahaffuz Helpline on 1166, free, or send a message to the polio WhatsApp helpline on 0346-7776546.
3. Give your address, district and your child's age, and say the child was missed in the September campaign.
4. Keep the child at home when the team is due, or take the child to the nearest government health centre.
5. Check the routine card too. Polio drops in a campaign do not replace the injectable polio vaccine and other routine doses.

The routine doses are the ones families forget most. The free EPI vaccine schedule lists every dose from birth to 15 months. Measles is the other one to check this autumn, and the two measles doses are also free at government centres.

Polio cases have fallen 99.8 per cent since the 1990s

The NEOC says Pakistan had an estimated 20,000 paralytic polio cases a year in the early 1990s. It had 31 in 2025 and has six so far in 2026. That is a fall of 99.8 per cent.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild polio still spreads. Polio has no cure. It can paralyse a child for life in a few days, and vaccination is the only protection. The running count of polio cases in Pakistan in 2026 shows where each case was found.

Common questions

How many children were vaccinated in the September 2026 polio campaign?

More than 29.3 million children under five, in 113 districts, according to the polio programme's release of 7 October 2026.

Which districts missed the September polio campaign?

Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur in Punjab. The NEOC says the campaign will run there later. No date has been given yet.

How many children were missed?

627,776 children, or 2.1 per cent of the target, were still missed after revisits. About 14.8 per cent were missed on the first visit.

My child was missed. What should I do?

Call 1166 or the polio WhatsApp helpline on 0346-7776546. Give your address and your child's age, and ask for a team to visit.

Is it safe to give polio drops again if my child had them before?

Yes. The NEOC says every child under five should get two drops in every campaign. Extra doses are safe and add protection.

When is the next polio campaign?

The programme has not announced the next date. The 7 October release does not name one.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked 9 October 2026. Every figure here comes from the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative's release of 7 October 2026, Sub-National Polio Vaccination Campaign Concludes Successfully, which we read on the programme's own website. The helpline numbers 1166 and 0346-7776546 are as printed in that release. The province figures are preliminary, as the release itself says.