Pakistan: Over 41000 polio vaccine refusal cases reported from Karachi

The provincial data showed that Sindh has reported 42,999 refusal cases this year and Karachi’s share stands at 41,875, reported Dawn News.

The refusal number in the remaining Sindh districts stands at 1124.

With over 97 per cent share in refusal cases, Karachi remains a crucial battleground in the fight against polio and its 27 high-risk union committees are currently under intensive government efforts to enhance vaccine acceptance and strengthen community trust in the public health initiative, a senior government official told Dawn News.

Irshad Ali Sodhar, the provincial coordinator of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), told the newspaper that refusal cases were less than one per cent of the total eligible child population.

“As country’s largest and most densely populated city, Karachi remains one of the most critical areas for polio eradication due to continuous virus detection in environmental samples and high numbers of refusals,” he said.

Third Polio Case Of 2025

Pakistan has recorded the third wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case of 2025, reflecting the country's failure in containing the disease.

According to an official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication, the case has been reported from Larkana, Sindh, reported Dawn News.

The victim was identified as a 54-month-old girl.

This is the second polio case reported from Sindh in 2025.

The other case was reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan is struggling in the face of resurgence of polio case with 74 reported in 2024.

Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from KP, 23 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, reported Dawn News.

The first nationwide polio vaccination campaign was held this month.

Quetta administration had arrested five people for refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated during the campaign.