KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Polio Free Afghanistan, an initiative dedicated to eradicating polio in Afghanistan, has announced that a new round of polio vaccinations for children will begin across various regions of Afghanistan.
In a post on X, Polio Free Afghanistan said that the campaign will begin on Saturday, August 10, and urged parents to support the effort by ensuring their children receive the polio vaccine during this period.
“Do your part to make Afghanistan polio-free,” the organization emphasized.
The organization did not specify how many provinces will be covered or how many children will be vaccinated in this round of the campaign. In the previous round, launched in June, the campaign aimed to vaccinate over 11 million children under the age of 5 across Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported that Taliban authorities in western Herat province have launched the vaccination campaign, aiming to vaccinate 58,700 children in the province.
Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only two countries still grappling with endemic polio—a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause severe paralysis and even fatalities in young children.
The virus grows in the intestinal system and is shed through feces. The infection typically spreads in areas with poor water and sewage sanitation, and the disease is only preventable by safe and effective vaccines.
According to Taliban authorities, there have been nine confirmed cases of polio in Afghanistan so far this year, with seven in the southern regions and two in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nuristan.
Pakistan continues to report new cases of active poliovirus, primarily in regions bordering Afghanistan. So far this year, the country has reported 13 cases of wild poliovirus. Among the victims, a two-year-old boy died in May, and others have been left paralyzed.
Vaccination efforts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan often encounter obstacles due to conspiracy theories in rural areas that falsely connect polio vaccination to infertility or fears that the vaccinators are being used for espionage.
The ruling regime in Afghanistan, which has historically impeded polio eradication efforts for years, now faces a major challenge in combating the disease.
