What happened
The Pakistan Medical Association issued an urgent national red alert on Thursday, 16 July 2026, declaring the country’s immunisation gap a national public health emergency after data showed that 651,000 infants had been completely bypassed by routine immunisation.
The association, which represents the country’s medical fraternity, said the immunity gap had breached the threshold required to maintain herd immunity and warned of an imminent, large-scale resurgence of preventable childhood mortality, Dawn reported.
The numbers
According to WHO and UNICEF estimates of national immunisation coverage, Pakistan recorded the highest number of zero-dose children in the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, The News reported. A zero-dose child is one who does not receive even the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine.
The estimates put 651,000 infants in Pakistan as zero-dose, ahead of Afghanistan with 503,000, Yemen with 424,000, Somalia with 231,000, Syria with 135,000 and Iraq with 123,000. Pakistan alone accounts for nearly one-fifth of the region’s 2.38 million zero-dose children. A further 465,000 children received the first dose but failed to complete the three-dose schedule.
DTP1 coverage in Pakistan was estimated at 93 per cent, while coverage of the third DTP dose fell to 86 per cent, leaving nearly 1.1 million children either unvaccinated or under-vaccinated according to the report. Only 30 per cent of newborns received the hepatitis B birth dose, meaning 70 per cent missed timely protection.
The data also showed the region’s burden is concentrated: 90 per cent of all zero-dose children in the Eastern Mediterranean Region live in five countries — Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia.
PMA’s warning
Pakistan Medical Association Secretary-General Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro said the scale was extraordinary for a country not at war. “For a non-conflict nation to harbor 14pc of the entire region’s zero-dose children is an unacceptable failure of governance,” he said.
In its statement, the association pointed to what it called critical failures and structural corruption, including nepotism in administrative appointments, weakened Expanded Programme on Immunisation frameworks, a chronic failure to establish secure networks to reach remote territories and an inability to counter vaccine hesitancy.
“Accumulating 651,000 zero-dose children is a direct consequence of decades of corrupt practices, administrative neglect, and a complete lack of political will from successive governments who do not prioritise the health of this nation,” the PMA said.
The demands
The association called for an audit of all funds allocated to provincial immunisation and health departments, transparency in procurement and accountability for negligent administrators. It asked federal and provincial leaders to declare routine immunisation a non-negotiable national security priority and to use localised, map-based demographic data to track down and vaccinate the missing children, prioritising high-risk districts.
It also urged modernising vaccine supply chains to prevent thermal degradation, clearing delayed payments, and providing better pay, training and security for frontline health workers. The WHO and UNICEF estimates attributed setbacks in many countries to the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and insecurity, declining external funding, weak health systems and rapidly growing birth cohorts.
Why it matters
The number of zero-dose children is one of the strongest available measures of unequal access to primary healthcare, and the estimates place Pakistan at the top of its region. With routine immunisation coverage short of the levels needed for herd immunity, the country faces a heightened risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
The PMA’s intervention also frames immunisation as a governance and accountability problem rather than only a medical one, pressing provincial administrations to account for how health funds are spent ahead of what a resurgence could cost in lives.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 2026-07-16.
- Dawn — "PMA issues red alert over 651,000 zero-dose children"16 July 2026 · The PMA's red alert, the declaration of a national public health emergency, Dr Shoro's remarks and the association's demands.
- The News International — "Mounting childhood immunisation crisis: Pakistan tops Emro region with 651,000 zero-dose children"15 July 2026 · The WHO/UNICEF coverage estimates, regional comparison and disease-specific coverage figures.
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