KARACHI: Pakistan will launch a targeted five-day polio vaccination campaign next week, aiming to immunize more than 158,000 children in high-risk districts of the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, health authorities said on Wednesday.

The campaign will be conducted exclusively in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Kolai-Palas districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), which oversees Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts.

“Special focus and effective strategies are being applied in high-risk union councils,” the NEOC said in a statement, referring to administrative units where access and vaccine acceptance remain challenging. 

The drive will take place from July 14 to 18.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that primarily affects young children and can cause permanent paralysis. There is no cure, but it can be prevented through multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and a complete routine immunization schedule, experts say.

Pakistan, one of only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the other being neighboring Afghanistan, has made significant gains in recent decades. Annual cases have fallen dramatically from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1990s to single digits by 2018.

However, the country has witnessed a worrying resurgence recently. As of July 2025, Pakistan has reported 14 polio cases, including eight in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, according to official data. The country reported 74 cases in 2024, raising alarms among health officials and global partners supporting the eradication campaign.

In contrast, only six cases were recorded in 2023 and just one in 2021. 

The latest targeted drive follows smaller vaccination efforts in high-risk areas. A special campaign was conducted last month in six union councils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, where approximately 17,500 children were vaccinated. A similar operation is planned for 11 union councils in North Waziristan, another district with a history of polio transmission.

The government conducted three nationwide polio campaigns earlier this year, in February, April, and May, aiming to reach around 45 million children with the help of over 400,000 frontline workers, including 225,000 women vaccinators.

Despite decades of effort, Pakistan’s eradication drive has faced persistent challenges, including misinformation about vaccines and resistance from conservative religious and militant groups who view immunization campaigns with suspicion. Some clerics have claimed the vaccines are a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children or part of intelligence operations.

Vaccination teams and police providing security have also been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in remote and conflict-affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. These threats have at times forced the suspension of campaigns and restricted access to vulnerable populations.

Pakistan launched its national polio eradication program in 1994.

ISLAMABAD: A US State Department official reaffirmed on Tuesday President Donald Trump and his top administration officials were involved in negotiations that led to a ceasefire between India and Pakistan earlier this year, contradicting repeated statements from Indian officials denying any American role.

Speaking at a State Department media briefing in Washington, spokesperson Tammy Bruce responded to a question about New Delhi’s rejection of Trump’s involvement in the truce.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his cabinet have insisted that the ceasefire was achieved bilaterally, without third-party mediation.

“So many comments speak for themselves,” she said. “That’s one of the good-news aspects of our modern world — people can see what’s really occurring. You’re not reliant on a comment to know what has really happened.”

She maintained “Secretary [of State] Marco Rubio ... the Vice President of the United States [JD Vance were] also involved in the negotiations with Pakistan and India,” which was announced by President Donald Trump on May 10.

Bruce’s comments came amid continued tension between Indian and American narratives about the circumstances that led to the ceasefire after four days of intense military conflict between the two South Asian nuclear rivals.

The Trump administration announced the two countries had agreed to halt hostilities and engage in talks at a neutral venue.

While the Trump administration publicly claimed credit for defusing the crisis, New Delhi maintained silence initially. In recent weeks, however, Indian officials have pushed back against suggestions of US mediation.

Suggestions of foreign involvement in Indian foreign policy engagements in the region, particularly with Pakistan, are often politically sensitive.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi announced in a statement after last month’s G7 meeting in Canada that Modi had challenged the American perspective, saying there was no US mediation in the Pakistan truce.

Subsequently, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar made similar remarks to clarify India’s position on the issue.

Pakistan, in contrast, has openly acknowledged and praised US involvement, with the government even nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize following the ceasefire announcement.