KARACHI: The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has confirmed wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in a male child from Karachi East.
This brings the total number of polio cases in the country in 2024 to 70. The case began on December 21, 2024.
Karachi East has now reported 2 polio cases in 2024.
Pakistan is responding to a severe resurgence of WPV1 with 70 cases in 2024. Of these, 27 are from Balochistan, 21 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 20 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Polio is a paralytic disease with no cure.
Multiple doses of polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under five years of age are essential to provide children with high immunity against this dreaded disease.
The Pakistan Polio Program conducts multiple mass vaccination campaigns a year, delivering vaccines to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Program on Immunization provides free childhood vaccinations against 12 diseases at health facilities.
The first polio vaccination campaign of the year will be conducted across the country from February 3 to 9, 2025.
It is crucial for parents to ensure that all their children under the age of five are vaccinated.
