“Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, Universal Immunization Programme is focusing to protect children from more diseases than ever before and has introduced several new vaccines like Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), Rotavirus vaccine, and Measles-Rubella vaccine (MR) in the recent past.
“Further, to provide additional protection to our children, the Centre has also introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine into its routine immunization programme. While we are making efforts to protect our children from more and more diseases, it is important that all vaccines under the programme reach every child of our country”, said the minister.
Stressing on the importance of observing National Immunisation Day, he said that the aim of Swastha Bharath can only be achieved if the children are healthy. The objective of Mission Indradhanush or Polio Vaccination Drive is to protect them against such deadly diseases.
“Since our neighboring countries are still not polio free, we should remain vigilant and continue the vaccination programme. Over 15 crore children under 5 years of age will be vaccinated in the coming months. Door-to-door vaccination campaigns through robust micro-planning will be done to ensure that no one is left,” he stated.
During the drive, polio drops will be provided to children through 7 lakh booths across the country. Approximately 23.6 crore houses will be visited for polio drops. Meghalaya has already conducted the drive in the state on January 24, while Mizoram plans to conduct the same on March 1 due to local reasons.
Election-bound states of Uttar Pradesh and Manipur also plan to organize the Polio NID on March 20 and 24, respectively.
Source: IANS
