Three-Day Polio Vaccination Drive Starts From Today, Covid 19 Precautions To Be Followed Strictly

The 3-day drive starts on Polio National Immunisation Day and drops will be administered to children of less than 5 years of age adhering to all Covid 19 guidelines.

Polio Vaccination drive kickstarts today

India will kickstart the 3-day long Pulse polio immunization campaign from Sunday, 31st January. The drive will cover children up to 5 years of age to keep the diseases away. India will also observe National Polio Immunisation Day today. 

The countrywide immunisation programme was earlier scheduled to start from 17 January, however, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 vaccination drive which started on 16 January.

"With the countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive scheduled to be rolled out on 16 January, the MoHFW in consultation with the office of President of India has rescheduled the Polio vaccination day to 31 January 2021," the Government of India had informed earlier.

On the eve of Polio Innumisation day, President Ram Nath Kovind launched the campaign by administering polio drops to some children at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey were also present during the launch of the first round of drive.

Considering the Covid 19 situation in the country, the Polio immunisation drive will follow all the necessary guidelines to keep the children safe, and therefore, there will be mandatory masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene during the drive. The government has advised senior citizens to not go to the immunisation camps with children due to the risks involved because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Union health ministry aims to administer polio drops to 17 crore children in the targeted age group to maintain the polio-free status of the country. Healthcare workers will visit two crore households to ensure that no child is left without the protection of the polio vaccine.

 The three-day polio vaccination drive will continue till 2nd February.

According to a report on polioeradication.org, India constituted over 60 percent of all global polio cases as recently as 2009, however, India was "officially declared polio-free in 2014, along with the rest of the South-East Asia Region".