The Polio National Immunisation Day, which is also popularly known as ‘Polio Ravivar’, is being observed on Sunday (January 31) across the country. President Ram Nath Kovind had a day ago launched the Pulse Polio Programme 2021 by administering polio drops to children below five years of age at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi.

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

The three-day polio vaccination drive will continue till 2 February. The vaccination programme for the eradication of polio is organised twice a year.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said President Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind administered polio drops to children on the eve of the Polio National Immunisation Day.

Around 17 crore children of less than 5 years of age will be given polio drops as part of the drive of Government of India to sustain polio free status of the country. The countrywide drive will be supported by about 24 lakh volunteers, 1.5 lakh supervisors and many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), WHO, UNICEF, Rotary etc, it said.

Healthcare workers will be visiting as many as 2 crore households to ensure that no child is left without the protection of the polio vaccine, the statement said. Health minister Harsh Vardhan also attended the event. He highlighted the mitigation measures and the efforts in strengthening routine immunization by the government.

States/Union Territories Plan for Polio Ravivar:

Karnataka will vaccinate around 64 lakh children between the ages of 0-5 years against polio on Sunday. “Even if children have been vaccinated earlier, they must be vaccinated again. There is no side-effect from this. No case of polio was found in the past 10-11 years in India and we have been declared polio-free. However, since polio is still found in Afghanistan and Pakistan, we have to administer the vaccine mandatorily,” Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.

In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will start the polio immunization campaign 2021 from Lucknow’s Dufferin hospital. At the hospital, he will give polio drops to several children.

In Uttarakhand‘s Chamoli district, over 39,000 children will be given polio drops at 606 booths.

Kerala: The pulse polio immunisation drive to cover almost 25 lakh children in the state. The government has issued guidelines to ensure the safe conduct of the immunisation on Sunday. All vaccinators should wear N-95 masks, face shields and gloves. Those having influenza-like illness, fever, cough and breathing difficulty will not be deployed for immunisation work. Vaccinators will sanitise their hands before and after the vaccination. The booth will be located away from the OP/IP sections in hospitals and have separate doors for entry and exit. Only five children will be allowed in a booth at once. Only one person will be allowed to accompany each child and shall wear a mask.

About 70.26 lakh children will be covered in Tamil Nadu during the nation-wide Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) campaign to be undertaken on January 31 with preventive measures for COVID-19, the state government said.

West Bengal is all set to administer polio vaccine to a targeted 64,07,930 children below the age of five starting January 31, following all Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.

Puducherry: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Sunday inaugurated the day-long pulse polio immunisation programme by administering oral drops to children. The programme aims at covering 88,000 children in the whole of the Union Territory. As many as 2,000 health staff have been deployed to carry out the immunisation, a press release from the Health Department said. Special camps were set up on the premises of community halls, anganwadis and temples.