A million children in Pakistan miss polio vaccine shots as cases spike

Islamabad, Pakistan CNN —

Polio is once again spreading in Pakistan, where officials say more than 1 million children missed their vaccination doses last month, underscoring the challenges they face in eradicating one of the world’s most intractable diseases.

Pakistani officials reported more than a dozen new polio cases in October, bringing the total number of infections this year to 39, compared to just six last year when the South Asian country appeared to be on the verge of eliminating the virus.

Ayesha Raza, the Focal Person to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Polio Eradication, blamed the recent uptick in cases on low vaccine uptake. She said about 1 million children missed their polio vaccinations in September, compounding a pre-existing immunity gap that has been growing since Covid-19 disrupted immunization efforts.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affects children under age 5. It attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis, respiratory issues and even death.

It spreads mainly through contaminated water or food and there is no cure. But it can be prevented with a vaccine: polio cases worldwide have been reduced by more than 99% since the 1980s thanks to immunization campaigns.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), though the United Nations health agency has also recently warned of a resurgence of the deadly disease in Gaza following more than a year of Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

Vaccination programs in Pakistan, home to more than 240 million people, have struggled in part due to a historical distrust of foreign health care providers. Allegations that US