Children deprived of routine vaccinations are becoming a major concern for the government, as a record increase has been reported in the number of children under two years of age who have not received any vaccines.
According to sources, unvaccinated children are a major cause of the spread of viruses. The final polio campaign of 2025 exposed the weaknesses in the routine immunization situation, as nearly three hundred thousand zero dose children were reported during the national polio campaign.
Sources said that 280,169 zero dose cases were reported among children under two years of age. Punjab reported the highest number with 161,054 zero dose cases, followed by Sindh with 64,313 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 54,796 zero dose cases.
During the national polio campaign, 51,946 zero dose cases were reported from Balochistan, while 1,201 cases emerged from Islamabad. A total of 895 cases were reported from Azad Kashmir and 864 zero dose cases from Gilgit Baltistan. Children under two years of age who are deprived of routine vaccinations are classified as zero dose children.
