ISLAMABAD: Over the last five decades, since the founding of Pakistan’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1978, Pakistan has protected over 160 million children and 130 million mothers with life-saving vaccines in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners. Thanks to medical science, Pakistan eradicated smallpox in 1976 and paved the way for the launch of an immunization programme that has ever since averted 2.6 million child deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases, proving that, for every generation, vaccines work and save lives.
Globally, vaccines have saved 154 million lives since 1974, and Pakistan ranks among the top five countries worldwide for absolute reductions in child deaths as a result of vaccination. Since 1994, powered by the medical science behind vaccines, Pakistan has reduced paralytic polio cases by 99.8% – from an estimated 20,000 cases to 31 in 2025. Pakistan also obtained the WHO certification for the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNTE) in Punjab, Sindh, Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), and Gilgit-Baltistan, ensuring that approximately 80% of the country’s population now lives in areas where neonatal tetanus no longer poses a public health threat, with less than one case per 1,000 live births.
WHO estimates that Pakistan’s EPI averts up to 17% of all childhood mortality, making immunization the most cost-effective single public health intervention available in the country. This achievement is the result of joint efforts by governments, partners, frontline health workers, communities and parents across the country.
Under the leadership of the Government of Pakistan, and with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, every year, WHO supports the immunization of over 7 million children and 5.5 million women across the country to protect them against 13 vaccine-preventable diseases, in addition to the vaccination of 45 million children against polio through multiple supplementary immunization campaigns. To this end, WHO trains and mobilizes 15,000 routine immunization vaccinators and over 400,000 frontline polio workers – the largest polio vaccination workforce in the world.
Ahead of World Immunization Week (24 April-1 May), WHO Representative in Pakistan, Dr Luo Dapeng, extended WHO’s gratitude to hundreds of thousands of frontline health workers, scientists, authorities and partners who have turned the medical science behind vaccines into action to save lives. “WHO is thankful to all those who have worked and are still working every day to protect millions of children with vaccines. The scientific evidence is clear: vaccines save lives and protect our children from deadly diseases. The science behind WHO-prequalified vaccines is robust, rigorously tested, and unambiguous — and it is this evidence that must guide our decisions, not fear or misinformation.”
“WHO is proud to stand with Pakistan, the Federal Directorate of Immunization and the Polio Eradication Initiative to support more than 15,000 routine vaccinators on the ground, and over 400,000 polio vaccinators, to protect every child and every mother, regardless of social or economic status, no matter where they live or who they are.”
In addition to saving lives, routine immunization and preventive campaigns have prevented tens of millions of episodes of illness, disability and hospitalization over the past 48 years. Every child protected from measles, polio, pneumonia, or diarrheal diseases means fewer families pushed into catastrophic health expenditure, fewer school days lost, and a lighter burden on an already stretched health system. WHO estimates that, for every death averted through vaccination, an average of 66 years of full health are gained. This indicates that, beyond survival, vaccines are offering a better quality of life for millions.
Medical science and the power of WHO-prequalified vaccines, which are safe and effective, have been instrumental in enabling Pakistan to lead one of the most cost-effective transformations to build a healthier future for all.
