Editorial photo #13897370 Health

Nationwide Pulse Polio Immunisation Drive Begins Across Kashmir, India

Oral polio vaccine vials are kept on a table during the nationwide Pulse Polio Immunisation Program in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on June 28, 2026. The Government of India launched the National Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme to vaccinate approximately 170 million children under the age of five across the country, including around 1.9 million children in Jammu and Kashmir, to protect them against poliomyelitis (polio). India reported its last case of wild poliovirus in January 2011 and was certified polio-free by the World Health Organization in March 2014. Nationwide immunisation campaigns and intensive disease surveillance continue to maintain high population immunity and prevent the reintroduction of the virus through imported cases. Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only countries where wild poliovirus is still endemic, making continued vaccination campaigns, cross-border surveillance, and rapid outbreak response essential to safeguarding India's polio-free status and protecting South Asia from renewed transmission. (Photo by Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto)