Pakistan's Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) protects children against diseases including polio, measles, tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis B and others, through a schedule of doses from birth into childhood. The programme reaches millions of children — and yet, in every school, there are children with a missed dose somewhere in that schedule: a family that moved cities, a dose skipped during an illness, a card lost in a house move, a booster forgotten once the child started school. Nobody is usually at fault, and nobody usually notices, until measles spreads through a class or a tetanus-prone injury arrives at a clinic. A school vaccination record drive finds those gaps quietly, without blame, and closes them through the health system. This school vaccination record drive Pakistan EPI guide explains how: checking cards at admission, keeping a gap register, running catch-up camps, and reminding parents until every dose is done.
Two boundaries must be clear from the start. First, a school never vaccinates children on its own authority and never pressures a family: vaccination is a health decision for parents, delivered by qualified health workers, and the school's role is to inform, remind, record and connect families with the health department. Second, health information is private: a child's vaccination status is shared only with their own parents and, where needed for a camp, with the health team — never announced, posted or discussed with other parents. Within those boundaries, a record drive is one of the most valuable health activities a school can run, and it costs almost nothing beyond staff time and careful organisation. It also fits naturally into the school's school health policy and its admission routine.
Why Vaccination Gaps Happen
Understanding why gaps happen stops the drive from becoming a blame exercise. The most common reason is simply a lost or incomplete card: EPI cards are paper, they travel with families, and a card issued at a basic health unit in one district may never be shown again after a move. The second reason is timing: a child who was ill on the due date, or whose family was travelling, misses a dose and the catch-up never gets rescheduled, because no system reminds them. The third is the school-age gap: once a child is past the infant schedule, parents often assume vaccination is finished, while boosters such as tetanus and measles second doses still matter. None of these reasons reflects neglect, and the drive's language must say so plainly, in every parent message: this is a routine check for every child, not an investigation of any family.
There is also a practical reason schools are the right place for this work. Schools see every child regularly, hold parents' contact details, and can reach families through WhatsApp in a way no health campaign easily can. Health departments know this too, and many run school-based immunisation activities or will support a school that asks. The school's job is to be the bridge: a trusted, familiar place where a parent can ask questions, show a card, and be connected to a vaccinator, rather than having to find the health system alone. That bridging role is exactly what a record drive formalises, and it works best when it is routine — every admission, every year — rather than a one-off panic during an outbreak.
Checking EPI Cards at Admission
The simplest and most effective step is also the easiest to miss: ask for the EPI card at admission. Add it to the admission documents checklist, alongside the birth certificate and previous school record, with a polite note explaining that the school keeps a copy of the vaccination record so it can remind parents about due or missed doses. The office staff member handling admissions should be trained to do three things: photocopy or photograph the card for the file, note the doses recorded and any obvious gaps against the EPI schedule, and flag the file — privately — for follow-up if a card is missing or incomplete. If a parent does not have the card, the response should be helpful, not bureaucratic: admission is not refused, the parent is asked to obtain a copy from the vaccinating facility or basic health unit, and the child is added to the follow-up list.
For children already enrolled, run the same check once a year, class by class, at the start of the session. Send a short WhatsApp message asking parents to send a photo of the EPI card or to bring it to the office for copying, explaining why in one sentence: so the school can remind them about any missed dose. Give a two-week window, send one reminder, and accept that some families will not respond — they go on the follow-up list for a personal, private conversation, not for public chasing. The admission check plus the annual check together mean that within two years, the school holds a vaccination record for nearly every child, and the gap register described next becomes genuinely useful rather than guesswork. Keep these records with the child's student health records, securely and privately.
Drive Principle
Building a Gap Register Without Shaming Anyone
The gap register is a simple private list, kept by the school attendant or office, of children whose records show a missed or uncertain dose. It needs only a few columns: name, class, parent contact, which dose appears missing or unclear, date the parent was informed, and outcome. That is all. It is not displayed, not shared with teachers generally, and not used for any purpose other than the vaccination drive. The register turns a pile of photocopied cards into action: at a glance, the school can see how many children need a reminder, how many need a catch-up camp place, and how many are already resolved. Without it, record drives decay into good intentions and a drawer of cards.
Accuracy matters, and humility about it matters more. Office staff are not health workers, and reading an EPI card against a schedule takes care — dose names, dates and handwriting can all confuse. When in doubt, mark the entry as "unclear — confirm with health team" rather than telling a parent their child missed a dose that was actually given. The health department team at a catch-up camp can verify records properly, and it is far better to refer a borderline case for verification than to alarm a parent wrongly. Review the register monthly during the drive period, update outcomes promptly, and keep it only as long as needed for the drive and the child's record. A register handled this discreetly earns parents' trust; a register handled carelessly destroys it.
Catch-Up Camps With the Health Department
Once the gap register shows a worthwhile number of children needing doses, contact the district health office or the nearest basic health unit and ask about a school catch-up session. Health departments run immunisation activities regularly and can often arrange a team to visit a school, particularly where several children need the same vaccines. Give them the numbers (not names, at first) — how many children, which age groups, which doses appear outstanding — and agree the practical details: date, room, consent process, and what the team needs from the school. The school provides a clean room, seating, drinking water, and a teacher to manage the flow; the health team provides the vaccines, the cold chain, the records and the clinical judgement. No child is vaccinated without that child's parent's written consent for the specific session.
On the day, run the session like any careful school health event: children come in small groups with their consent forms, the health team checks each child's record before vaccinating, and each vaccinated child receives an updated card entry and a note for parents stating what was given and when the next dose, if any, is due. The school updates its gap register the same day. If the health department cannot visit, the fallback is equally effective: give every parent on the register a written referral note with the nearest vaccination point and its days, plus a WhatsApp reminder, and follow up after two weeks. Either route closes gaps; the camp route simply closes them faster, and it signals to every family that the school and the health system are working together for their children.
Reminders and Follow-Up Until Doses Are Done
The final step is the one most drives skip, and it is the step that decides whether gaps actually close. After the camp or referral, follow up every outstanding case at two weeks and again at a month, with a short private WhatsApp message: a reminder of the dose due, the nearest place to get it, and an offer to help with any question. Keep the tone warm and practical, never threatening, and never link vaccination to admission, exams or any school penalty — that would be both wrong and counterproductive. For families who hesitate, the best response is information and a conversation, not pressure: offer the health department's information, offer to connect them with the lady health worker or vaccinator for questions, and respect their decision while keeping the door open.
Close the loop properly. When a dose is completed, update the child's record and the gap register, and send the parent a brief confirmation — a small acknowledgement that the loop is closed and the school noticed. At the end of the drive, the head should be able to report three numbers to themselves: how many children were checked, how many gaps were found, and how many are now closed. Those numbers, kept privately, are the measure of the drive, and they improve every year as admission checks catch gaps earlier. Over time, a school that runs this drive routinely will find its gap register shrinking — not because children stopped missing doses, but because the school now catches each missed dose within weeks, while closing it is still easy. That is the whole point: a small, routine, respectful system that keeps every child's protection complete.
AI Help: Muse AI
Muse AI is Meta's personal AI assistant, available in the Muse app. A school office can ask it to draft a polite WhatsApp message asking parents to share their child's EPI card, or to explain the EPI schedule in simple words for a parent notice. Join Muse with invite code LTGSWD — in the Muse app, go to Settings > Redeem token and enter the code.
Disclosure: LTGSWD is the author's Muse invite code.