Pakistan Medical Association issues red alert over 651,000 infants bypassed by routine immunisation system
The Pakistan Medical Association has declared a national public health emergency due to 651,000 infants missing routine vaccinations. The report attributes this failure to administrative negligence and warns of a potential resurgence of preventable diseases.
Why it matters
The collapse of immunization coverage in a non-conflict nation poses a significant threat to regional herd immunity and child mortality rates.
Thematic image. A health worker administers polio drops to a child for vaccination on the first day of a nationwide week-long poliovirus eradication campaign in Karachi on October 13, 2025. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI – The Pakistan Medical Association has issued an urgent national red alert after clinical and epidemiological data revealed that Pakistan holds a catastrophically high volume of “zero-dose” children in the World Health Organisation’s Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Zero-dose children are those who have not received the first dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP1).
With 651,000 infants completely bypassed by routine immunisation systems, the representative body of the medical fraternity warns that the country is sitting on an epidemiological powder keg, facing an imminent, large-scale resurgence of preventable childhood mortality.
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