Pakistan’s National Vaccination Drive: Ambitious Goals and Challenges Ahead

Pakistan launches a national two-week vaccination campaign targeting 57 million children to curb rising pediatric morbidity from measles, rubella, and polio and prevent hospitalizations and deaths.

The two-week drive aims to reach 57 million children—34.5 million scheduled for measles–rubella immunization and 23.3 million slated for polio drops—delivered via fixed sites, outreach posts, and mobile teams. This mixed delivery model concentrates demand on cold-chain capacity, transport logistics, and microplanning; together it will require intensified resources and tight multisector coordination to meet coverage targets.

WHO-supported training prepared 140,000 health workers to staff vaccination teams, cold-chain leads, and supervisory cadres. Those cadres are now deployed to run immunization sessions, monitor temperature data, verify coverage, and lead supervisory mop-up actions—enabling synchronized mass implementation and rapid response to missed children.

Campaign operations pair with active case detection: suspected measles and rubella reporting and acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance for polio inform microplans and help target areas with immunity gaps. Routine surveillance data should be triangulated with community-level findings to guide household visits, data-driven mop-up rounds, and revised microplans that prioritize high-risk subpopulations; surveillance-led targeting improves efficiency and lowers outbreak risk.

Operational threats include attacks on vaccination teams, instances of access denial, and persistent misinformation that undermines local acceptance. Because security pressures have historically disrupted campaigns and caused casualties among vaccinators and escorts, countermeasures emphasize community engagement, negotiated access with local leaders, formal security protocols, and adjusted deployment schedules. Sustained investment in negotiation and trust-building will be required to mitigate risk and secure campaign completion.

Key Takeaways:

• A national two-week campaign targeting 57 million children integrates measles–rubella (34.5 million) and polio (23.3 million) delivery across fixed, outreach, and mobile modalities.
• Frontline vaccinators, surveillance teams, and pediatric services will absorb residual caseloads, support mop-up rounds, and monitor coverage.
• Priorities are workforce deployment, cold-chain scaling, surveillance-led mop-ups to close immunity gaps, and sustained security and community-engagement measures to protect teams and maintain coverage.