Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government initiated another polio vaccination campaign in the province on Friday.

Health advisor Ihtisham Ali inaugurated the campaign in Peshawar. The campaign is set to run from February 3 to 7 and will target over 6.5 million children.

Ali said that a total of 40,000 polio vaccination teams have been appointed for the campaign and 50,000 police officials will be tasked with providing security.

He added that the vaccination campaign will include the upper districts of KP and Kurram will also be covered.

The advisor admitted that there were staff shortages in several hospitals of KP but the government is trying to fix the issue.

Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where the polio virus is still endemic. The country reported 71 cases of the virus in 2024, with 21 of them coming from KP. Factors such as religious interpretations and terrorist attacks have severely hampered vaccination efforts in recent years with polio workers and security forces both being targeted in large numbers.