Pakistan begins last anti-polio vaccination drive of the year after surge in new cases

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities on Monday launched the final nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign of the year, aiming to protect 45 million children after more than two dozen cases of the potentially paralyzing disease were reported, officials said.

According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where polio has not been eradicated.

Pakistan has reported 30 polio cases since January, down from 74 during the same period last year, according to a statement from the government-run Polio Eradication Initiative.

The campaign is the country’s fifth national vaccination drive this year. Pakistan regularly conducts such campaigns despite persistent security threats.

Health Minister Mustafa Kamal urged parents to cooperate with vaccination teams. “This is not just about numbers. Each case threatens a child’s future and the safety of our communities,” Kamal said about the latest polio cases.

According to the statement, more than 400,000 front-line health workers are going door-to-door across Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and in Islamabad, to ensure no child is missed.

Militants have repeatedly targeted vaccination workers and the police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming the campaigns are a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.

Authorities have deployed thousands of police officers to protect vaccination teams following intelligence reports warning of possible militant attacks.

Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and police officers assigned to guard them have been killed in such attacks.

“The December polio campaign is synchronized with Afghanistan, ensuring both countries boost immunity together to interrupt cross-border transmission,” the statement said.

Officials said Pakistan has made significant progress in containing the virus.

“We are closer than ever to achieving eradication, and this campaign represents a vital final push to stop the virus everywhere it still circulates,” it said.

A police officer stands guard as a health worker, right, administers a polio vaccine to a child at a neighbourhood in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

A police officer stands guard as a health worker, right, administers a polio vaccine to a child at a neighbourhood in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a neighbourhood in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

A health worker, right, administers a polio vaccine to a child at a neighbourhood in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

PRAGUE (AP) — A new Czech coalition government led by populist billionaire Andrej Babiš took office on Monday with an agenda to steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and reject some key European Union policies.

President Petr Pavel swore in the Cabinet at the Prague Castle, ending a pro-Western coalition under former Prime Minister Petr Fiala that made the country a staunch supporter of Ukraine and a haven for hundreds of thousands Ukrainian refugees.

Babiš, previously prime minister in two governments from 2017-2021, and his ANO, or YES, movement, won big in the country's October election and agreed to form a majority coalition government with two small political groups, the Freedom and Direct Democracy anti-migrant party and the right-wing Motorists for Themselves.

The parties, which share admiration for U.S. President Donald Trump, created a 16-member Cabinet. ANO holds eight posts and the prime minister’s office. The Motorists have four and the Freedom party three.

The political comeback by Babiš and his new alliance with two small government newcomers are expected to significantly redefine the nation's foreign and domestic policies.

Babiš is set to join the ranks of Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, whose countries have refused to provide military aid to Ukraine and which oppose EU sanctions on Russia.

Babiš has rejected any financial aid by his country for Ukraine and guarantees for EU loans to the country fighting the Russian invasion.

Babiš already joined forces with his friend Orbán last year to create a new alliance in the European Parliament, the “Patriots for Europe,” to represent hard-right groups. Previously, he was a member of the liberal Renew group.

Babiš suggested his government would abandon a Czech initiative that has managed to acquire some 1.8 million much-needed artillery shells for Ukraine only this year on markets outside the EU.

The Freedom party sees no future for the Czechs in the EU and NATO and wants to expel most of 380,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country. The group does not consider Russia a threat and its members repeat its propaganda.

The Motorists, who are close to former euro-skeptic President Václav Klaus, rejected the EU Green Deal and proposed revivals of coal and relations with Slovakia, Hungary and Poland in an informal group known as V4 whose activities has been stalled over different views of the Russian war against Ukraine.

The Motorists, whose head Petr Macinka became the foreign minister, blamed the former government of damaging relations with Slovakia and Hungary.

The new government promised to present a plan to reduce electricity prices, revoke a pension reform and change the financing of the public radio and television that critics say would would bring the broadcasters under government control.

Leader of ANO political movement Andrej Babis addresses the media after being sworn in as the country's new prime minister at the Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)