Polio Update
As a fellow Rotarian, I hope you have read the article, "No needle, no fear, no pain" in the May 2026 issue of The Rotarian magazine regarding the use of a jet needle-free injection for polio vaccinators in Afghanistan. This provides a way for inactivated polio vaccine, normally administered through a syringe with a needle, to be administered with no fear and no pain. Parents are now bringing their children who previously avoided the injectable vaccines through a needle.
Both the oral vaccine, providing drops on the tongue, and the jet injection are used to offer stronger protection against paralysis.
This has been part of a campaign from August to October in 2025 to protect more than 1.2 million children under the age of 5 from polio. Over 10,000 polio workers were part of this effort.
Update on Wild Polio Virus Type 1(WPV1)
No new cases reported this week, but unfortunately, we had 2 new cases reported last week: 1 in Pakistan and 1 in Afghanistan so the 2026 total year-to-date increases to 6 cases (3 in Pakistan and 3 in Afghanistan). This compares to 10 cases as this same time this year.
Wild Positive Environmental Samples. Also, unfortunately there were also 20 positive Wild Environmental Samples reported last week, with 6 from Afghanistan and 14 from Pakistan increasing the YTD 2026 total to 94. The 2025 total is adjusted to 760. Also, there was 1 Positive Type 2 Environmental Samples reported this last week. Of special note is that it was collected in Western Australia as part of their routine environmental surveillance. It was traced back to a positive sample last collected in Germany in 2024. At this time there is no evidence of local transmission and risk assessment and monitoring the situation is ongoing. It does give credence to the saying, however, that “Polio is only a plane ride away”.
Pakistan and Afghanisan unite to protect millions of chidren in synchronized polio campaigns (Story shared from D5130)
Amid geopolitical tensions and insecurity across the Region, health workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan came together from 13 to 19 April 2026, a nationwide vaccination campaign in Pakistan reached 44.8 million children. Simultaneously, Afghanistan launched its first nationwide campaign in 2026, reaching 12.8 million children under 5. Vitamin A was co-administered to children between the ages of 6-59 months in both countries.
Despite ongoing geopolitical stresses, both countries have continued to support technical coordination through long-standing cross-border mechanisms. This collaboration is essential in the 2 remaining endemic countries for wild poliovirus globally. Afghanistan and Pakistan form a single epidemiological bloc where transmission on one side of the border directly affects the other. By aligning campaign timing and strategies, the 2 programs are working to stop transmission on both sides of the border – protecting communities that are among the most vulnerable and hardest to reach.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan and Afghanistan experienced a high burden of polio, with Pakistan reporting an estimated 20000 cases annually and Afghanistan approximately 2000. Due to intensified eradication efforts since 1994 under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, polio cases in Afghanistan and Pakistan have decreased dramatically. As of May 2026, six cases have been reported across both countries.
