The polio paradox

Even in 2025, the polio eradication campaign in Pakistan continues to struggle against rising cases and security threats as Northern Pakistan, specifically Gilgit-Baltistan, reports its first case of the wild poliovirus in almost 7 years. This was closely accompanied by news of an incident involving unknown armed men opening fire on a polio team in Diamer district. The proximity of these two reports does well to capture the country's fight against this virus that has been going on for over 30 years now. On one hand, you have a public health crisis worsening by the year. While on the other, you have a misinformed public actively resisting alleviation for all sorts of regressively traditional reasons.

The armed assault on polio workers occurred on the final day of the year's third nationwide polio vaccination campaign. Before opening fire, the men threatened the team against further attempts at vaccination campaigns. They opposed it as it was "bringing [unveiled] women from Gilgit in the name of the polio campaign" and "ruining the environment". Ostensibly, attacking a medical team working to provide basic humanitarian care for children does not fall under a 'ruined environment'.

Polio vaccination campaigns in Pakistan have long been under fire, both literally and figuratively, by various pseudo-scientific and religious groups. These groups claim that the vaccinations cause fatal medical problems and are a 'Western conspiracy'. Time and again, these claims have been officially refuted. The recent case of wild poliovirus has been identified in a 23-month-old child with a medical record of administered polio drops. But the child was not provided with post-birth vaccines.

This highlights the urgency for a deeply meticulous approach that leaves no ends untied. Pakistan needs not only sustained vaccination efforts, but also an approach that suppresses violent and misinformed actions. Without that, the lives of our nation's children remain at stake.