Independent Report
Islamabad, December 14, 2025:
First Lady BB Asifa Bhutto Zardari urged parents, guardians, community leaders, and public representatives to actively support the national polio vaccination campaign running from December 15 to 21, 2025, across all provinces and territories.
She emphasized that the campaign’s success depends on collective responsibility and appealed to families to ensure every child under five receives polio drops. The three-day drive aims to cover 45.4 million children nationwide, including 23.3 million in Punjab, 10.6 million in Sindh, 7.3 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 2.66 million in Balochistan, with the remainder in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The campaign is aligned with Afghanistan’s December polio initiative to curb cross-border transmission.
BB Asifa recalled her late mother Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s leadership in launching Pakistan’s first national polio drive in 1994, describing her personal connection to the cause as her mother had administered her first polio dose.
During the campaign, vaccination teams will conduct door-to-door visits, with extended five-day drives in high-risk areas supported by mobile and community-based teams. Over 408,484 frontline polio workers have been deployed nationwide, including area in-charges, union council medical officers, and fixed, transit, and mobile teams.
She also appealed to elected officials, local authorities, and community leaders to facilitate team access and combat misinformation, ensuring maximum coverage. Technical experts in National and Provincial Emergency Operations Centers are monitoring high-risk areas for effective coordination.
BB Asifa urged citizens to welcome vaccinators, report unvaccinated children, and support frontline workers, stressing that united efforts are crucial to eliminating polio and safeguarding Pakistan’s children.
