Polio drive 21 to 27 September: 31m children across 115 districts

The week-long national polio campaign starts today, Monday 21 September, and runs to Sunday 27 September. The National Emergency Operations Centre is targeting about 31 million children under five across 115 districts. Teams go door to door.

Who is covered, province by province

Every child under five gets two drops, whether or not they had them in the last round. The vaccine is not a one-off course: protection builds with repeat doses, which is why the same child is visited several times a year. If your child was born in the last few weeks, they still count. If you are not sure whether your child is still under five on the day a team knocks, the age calculator settles it to the day.

Teams work morning to evening and carry NEOC identification. If nobody is home, they mark the house and come back later in the week.

Why this round matters more than the last one

Pakistan has reported four wild poliovirus cases in 2026, against 31 in the whole of 2025, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative update of 16 September. That looks like progress, and it is. The problem is where the four cases are.

Three of the four are from Bannu division in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The most recent is an eight-month-old from Miryan tehsil in Bannu district, with onset of paralysis on 7 August. Officials have said polio teams have not been able to reach children in Nurar Union Council regularly since 2025. Virus that keeps circulating in one pocket of missed children is how a four-case year turns back into a thirty-case year.

For comparison, Afghanistan has reported 25 cases in 2026 against 21 in 2025. The two countries share the last reservoir of wild poliovirus on earth, and children move across the border constantly.

The complication in the merged districts

Levies and Khasadar personnel in the merged tribal districts have announced a boycott of polio campaign duties. Their committee chairman, Syed Jalal, says the boycott holds until the government settles a defined service structure, transparent promotion and pension rules, and seniority counted from the 2019 merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The committee has threatened a Rs 25 million fine on any member who turns up for polio duty, and plans protest camps at deputy commissioner offices across the merged districts.

The campaign in the merged districts is a three-day round starting today, including Mohmand. Polio teams in these areas do not move without a security escort. A similar threat in Khyber district last month ended with personnel doing the duty anyway, so this may yet be resolved, but as of this morning it is not.

What to do if a team does not reach you

Call the polio helpline on 1166 or take the child to the nearest basic health unit or rural health centre, where the drops are free. Refusals are logged and followed up by a supervisor, not a health worker, so if you have a question about the vaccine it is worth asking the team on the spot rather than closing the door.