‘This work chose me’: Pakistan’s women vaccinators protecting millions on the frontlines

“I didn’t choose this work. This work chose me,” says Sanam, one of the more than 428 000 vaccinators – including 15 000 routine vaccinators and 413 000 polio workers – trained by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Pakistan. They brave distance and difficult terrain and overcome doubts to bring lifesaving medical science to their communities, protecting them against 13 vaccine-preventable diseases.

Every year, they protect 7 million children and 5.5 million mothers with routine vaccines. Over 45 million children have been reached with polio vaccines during multiple supplementary campaigns.

Many of these vaccinators are women who speak mother to mother, bridging cultural codes and going where others cannot. This World Immunization Week, we pay tribute to them.

Meet Sanam, Laila, Rozina, Sagheera, Zeenat, Fatima, Ayesha, Shumaila, Deen-a-Komal and Amina, and learn how, across Pakistan’s provinces, they are proving that, for every generation, vaccines work and save lives.

Sanam – Barakahu, Islamabad

“When I was in college, I wanted to select a field where I could interact with people and with children – like this vaccination programme that protects children. I wanted to do something for children, as a vaccinator and as a mother.”

Vaccinator Sanam prepares a routine immunization dose at the Rural Health Centre Barakahu, Islamabad, Pakistan, in April 2026. Photo credit: Sara Akmal/ WHO Pakistan

Laila – Muzaffargarh, Punjab

“These are my villages, my children. I have walked through these fields in July heat and December fog. When you know a child is waiting, you don’t calculate the distance. You just go. Trust is a real medicine. The injection comes after,” says Laila.

Vaccinator Laila walks through the fields of Muzaffargarh, Punjab, carrying a vaccine carrier and supplies to reach children in her community. Photo credit: WHO Pakistan

Rozina – Thatta, Sindh

“Some mothers walk very far to bring their children to me. When I see them coming, I never make them wait. There are mothers in this area who lost children to measles because they were not vaccinated on time. Vaccination is not just a choice. It is a responsibility we share.”

Vaccinator Rozina prepares a vaccine dose at a community outreach session in, Thatta, Sindh, as mothers and children wait to be vaccinated. Photo credit: WHO Pakistan

Sagheera – Kahuta, Punjab

 “For 25 years I have been coming to these hills. The children I vaccinated first are now bringing me their own children. That is all the reward I need.”

Vaccinator Sagheera reviews vaccination cards with mothers and families during a community outreach visit in Kahuta, Punjab. Photo credit: WHO Pakistan

Zeenat – Rawalpindi

“I am a mother too and I got my own children vaccinated for polio. Thank God, they are healthy and protected now. I want all parents in the country to vaccinate their children with polio drops so they do not fall prey to paralysis.”

Vaccinator Zeenat, accompanied by a WHO frontline worker, administers polio drops to a child at his doorstep in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, during a door-to-door immunization campaign in February 2026. Photo credit: Hamid Inam/WHO Pakistan

Fatima – Thatta, Sindh

“Every tetanus-diphtheria vaccine that we provide protects mothers and newborns from maternal and neonatal tetanus. I am proud to have played a part in eliminating this disease across Sindh.”

 Vaccinator Fatima administers a Td (tetanus-diphtheria) vaccine to a woman at a community outreach site in Thatta, Sindh, as part of Pakistan’s maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination programme. Photo credit: WHO Pakistan

Ayesha – Tarlai, Islamabad

“Every child, every missed dose is all in this register. This data are not just numbers. These are the children I am responsible for.”

Vaccinator Ayesha presents her vaccination register to Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, during a visit to the Tarlai health facility in Islamabad in 2025. Photo credit: Ayesha Javed/WHO Pakistan

Shumaila –  Karachi, Sindh

“The human papillomavirus (HPV) campaign (against cervical cancer) was challenging. I was not just vaccinating — I was convincing parents the vaccine was safe. Every girl on our list was a daughter, a sister, a future. It was our responsibility to protect her health.”

Vaccinator Shumaila administers an HPV vaccine to a schoolgirl in Karachi, Sindh, during the national HPV campaign. Photo credit: Ayesha Javed/WHO Pakistan

Deen-a-Komal –  Diamir District, Gilgit-Baltistan

“In Diamir, people once turned us away at the door. Since15 women vaccinators were deployed here, coverage has risen from 57% to 83%. That change is what I worked for.”

Vaccinator Deen-a-Komal at an outreach site during a measles and rubella campaign in November 2025 in Diamir District, Gilgit-Baltistan. Photo credit: WHO Pakistan

Amina Khan – Mehrabadi, Islamabad

“A missed child does not disappear from my list. I follow up until I find them. A blank space in this register means a child is still at risk.”

Vaccinator Amina updates vaccination records at a field outreach site in Mehrabadi, Islamabad. Photo credit: WHO Pakistan.

Bridging the human distance to deliver medical science

In 1976, Pakistan was certified free of smallpox by WHO. In 1980, smallpox was officially declared eradicated worldwide, ending one of the deadliest diseases in human history. That success was achieved by health workers who walked through neighbourhoods, climbed into villages, and stayed until every eligible person was reached. Two years later, in 1978, Pakistan launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization in partnership with WHO. At the time, there were a limited presence of women vaccinators.

Nearly 5 decades on, Pakistan has more women vaccinators than ever. They carry vaccines into the country’s hardest-to-reach corners with WHO technical and operational support –  in collaboration with partners and with funding from donors like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

These vaccinators continue to build on the hard-earned lesson that motivated the creation of the immunization programme 48 years ago: understanding that the distance between a vaccine and a child is always, in the end, a human distance, and that the medical science behind vaccines needs vaccinators to deliver it.

Written by Ayesha Javed.

Edited by José Ignacio Martín Galán