Polio Vaccine: Why Every Dose Matters

Polio is one of the few diseases that can turn a healthy child into a paralysed one in a matter of hours. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild poliovirus is still circulating, which is why vaccination teams keep coming back to your door.

What does polio do to a child?

WHO describes polio as a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis within hours. Many infections cause mild illness or none at all. Early signs can include fever, tiredness, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the arms or legs.

About 1 in 200 infections leads to permanent paralysis, usually in the legs. Of the children who become paralysed, 5% to 10% die when the muscles that control breathing stop working. There is no treatment that reverses it.

Who is at risk?

Polio mainly affects children under 5, but WHO points out that any unvaccinated person of any age can catch it. The virus spreads mainly by the faecal-oral route, through contaminated water and food, and it multiplies in the intestine. Pakistan's polio programme describes the same routes: contaminated water, food, or poor community sanitation. A child can be exposed outside the home no matter how clean the household is.

Why does my child need the drops again and again?

This is the question vaccination teams hear most often. Pakistan's polio programme answers it directly: polio has no cure, and it can only be prevented through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine.

WHO explains that the two vaccines used around the world, oral polio vaccine (OPV) and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), are both effective and safe, and that multiple doses are needed to give lifelong protection. One or two doses is only a partial job. Each extra dose builds protection higher, and it also reduces the amount of virus circulating in the community, which helps protect babies too young to be fully covered.

Pakistan's programme runs house-to-house campaigns designed to reach more than 45 million children under five, using over 350,000 frontline workers, plus vaccination posts at transit points such as bus stops and toll plazas. Social mobilisers visit communities before campaigns to answer parents' concerns. If a team misses your child because they were asleep, at school or travelling, you can still get the drops afterwards.

Do campaign drops replace routine vaccination?

No. Campaign doses are extra protection on top of the routine schedule, not a substitute for it. Pakistan's Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) vaccinates children aged 0 to 15 months against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio, measles, rubella, childhood TB, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, meningitis, pneumonia, diarrhoea and typhoid.

Practical steps for parents:

• Keep your child's vaccination card safe and take it to every visit
• Accept the drops every time a team comes, even if your child had them last month
• Complete the routine EPI schedule as well, not just campaign doses
• Make sure newborns and children who have moved house or returned from travel are covered

For questions about vaccines or your child's schedule, the government's Sehat Tahaffuz Helpline is 1166.

When to see a doctor

• Sudden weakness, floppiness or a new limp in a child's arm or leg — this needs to be checked the same day
• Fever with a stiff neck, severe headache or repeated vomiting
• Your child has never been vaccinated, or you do not know their vaccination history
• Any child in the household develops sudden weakness after a fever

If a child has difficulty breathing, cannot be woken, or an arm or leg suddenly goes weak, call Rescue 1122 where available, or go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Remember that once polio causes paralysis, there is no cure. The vaccine, given every time, is the only protection.