Punjab has begun a large vaccination campaign starting September 15, 2025, aiming to protect girls aged 9 to 14 against human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus that causes cervical cancer. The campaign is part of Pakistan’s plan to include HPV vaccine in its regular immunisation programme.The total goal in Punjab is to vaccinate more than 8 million girls during this campaign. Of these, around 5.5 million are school-going girls who can be reached through schools. But a major difficulty is reaching the remaining 2.5 million girls who are out of school, especially in communities hit by floods, nomadic groups, migrants, and other marginalized areas.Floods in recent months have damaged many school buildings across Punjab. This damage has made it harder to use school-based vaccination strategies in those affected areas. Other obstacles include limited awareness among communities, fear of injections, and challenges in communicating health information to younger girls and their families.To tackle these issues, the health authorities under Punjab’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) have planned a range of outreach strategies. They have mobilised about 6,277 outreach teams and more than 13,000 social mobilisers to go into remote, underserved and high-risk areas.Special stations will be set up in community spaces like hujras, homes of lady health workers (LHWs), and places trusted by community leaders. Mobile or special vaccination teams will visit places such as orphanages, transport hubs, markets, fields, migrant settlements, prisons, and so on, so that girls who do not attend school can also be reached. Civil society organisations are also helping to raise awareness and build trust in those communities.Dr. Samra Khurram, Director of EPI Punjab, has said that introducing the HPV vaccine is different from previous vaccination campaigns because it targets an older age group. She noted that many girls may be afraid of injections and that scientific details about HPV and cancer are more complex to explain.One major positive change is that this vaccine will now be available free of cost. Previously, HPV vaccine was only obtainable at private hospitals where it was expensive. This free vaccination through public health channels is expected to remove a big barrier for many families.Cervical cancer is a serious problem in Pakistan. Experts say it is the third most common cancer among women in general, and among women aged 15 to 44 it is the second most common. Many cases go undetected until late, when treatment is less effective. Vaccination is seen as a key tool to prevent new cases.In summary, Punjab’s HPV vaccine rollout is an important and ambitious step. But success will depend heavily on how well the programme can find, reach and convince out-of-school and marginalized girls to get vaccinated, especially amid damage from floods and other access issues.
