Centre to conduct Polio Sub-National Immunization Drive in 11 states, UTs from June 19

The first Sub-National Immunization Day for 2022 for administering Polio vaccine drops will be conducted from June 19 in 11 states and UTs, announced Union Health Ministry on Saturday.

The states and UTs for Polio vaccine campaign will include Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.During this Polio campaign, around 3.9 crore children less than 5 years of age are targeted to be given polio drops through booth, house-to-house, mobile and transit teams.

To provide additional protection to children, Government of India has also introduced the injectable Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine into its routine immunization program.While India is making efforts to protect its children from more and more Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPDs) by introducing additional vaccines under the Universal Immunization Program (UIP), it is important that all vaccines also reach every last child in the country, health ministry said.

The lessons learned and systems created under the National Polio Program are being used to strengthen routine immunization and achieve more than 90 per cent full immunization coverage.

India, along with 10 other countries in the South-East Asia Region of WHO, was certified polio-free on March 27, 2014. The last case of polio in the country was reported from Howrah, West Bengal on January 13, 2011.