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Pakistan’s First HPV Vaccine Drive Ends With Uptake at About Half Target

Officials pledge continued access after a wave of misinformation fueled hesitancy.

Pakistan's first HPV vaccine campaign aimed to administer jabs to 11 million girls -- but only around half the intended doses were administered
Misinformation and conspiracy theories plagued the first rollout of a vaccine to protect Pakistani girls against cervical cancer
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The HPV vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization, is a safe protection against cervical cancer and has a long history of saving lives more than 150 countries

Overview

  • The two-week campaign from September 15–27 targeted girls aged 9–14 in Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad and AJK to curb cervical cancer, which strikes roughly 5,000 Pakistani women each year with high mortality.
  • Only about half of the intended doses were delivered by the close of the drive, a federal health official said, with refusals reported in Karachi and other districts and some private schools shutting to avoid sessions.
  • Officials moved to counter hesitancy, with the federal health minister publicly vaccinating his daughter and teams intensifying school outreach, while pledging continued access to the shots after the campaign.
  • Viral falsehoods included AI-generated clips questioning safety and an unrelated old video miscast as post-vaccination fainting, which fact-checkers debunked using established research and reverse image searches.
  • A politician’s claim that the vaccine causes infertility is unsupported by studies and regulators, and the rollout uses WHO‑prequalified single‑dose Ceolin supplied through Gavi with donor financing.