19.8 lakh children to receive polio vaccine in Kerala on Sunday
Kerala will immunise nearly two million children under five against polio on Sunday, using 22,288 booths and mobile teams, with house-to-house follow-ups planned.
Kerala will immunise nearly two million children under five against polio on Sunday, using 22,288 booths and mobile teams, with house-to-house follow-ups planned.
Kerala will immunise nearly two million children under five against polio on Sunday, using 22,288 booths and mobile teams, with house-to-house follow-ups planned.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will conduct the nationwide Pulse Polio Immunisation drive on Sunday, with 19,80,224 children below the age of five set to receive oral polio vaccine drops across the state, Health and Devaswom Minister K Muralidharan said on Saturday. The minister added that all arrangements for the campaign have been completed and urged parents and guardians to ensure that every child under the age of five is vaccinated.
A total of 22,288 vaccination booths have been set up across Kerala, with 46,663 trained volunteers deployed for the drive. The booths have been established at easily accessible locations, including government hospitals, health centres, Family Health Centres, urban health centres, anganwadis, private hospitals, schools, libraries and buildings of voluntary organisations.
The state-level inauguration of the programme will be held at Thycaud Mother and Child Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram at 8 am on Sunday, where Minister Muralidharan will administer the first dose. Transport Minister C P John will preside over the function. Dr Shashi Tharoor, MP, and Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor V V Rajesh will also attend.
The Health Department has also arranged 539 transit booths, 283 mobile booths and nine booths at festival and fair venues. Transit booths will operate at railway stations, bus stands and boat jetties to vaccinate children who are travelling, while mobile teams will cover migrant workers' settlements, remote areas, festival venues and marriage halls.
The department has also ensured adequate cold-chain facilities, including Ice-Lined Refrigerators (ILRs), deep freezers, cold boxes and vaccine carriers, for the safe storage and transportation of vaccines.
Children who miss the vaccination on Sunday will be covered through house-to-house visits on June 29 and 30.
The immunisation drive is being coordinated by the Health Department with the support of Arogya Keralam, the Local Self-Government Department, the Women and Child Development Department, the General Education Department, the Kudumbashree Mission, the Literacy Mission and voluntary organisations, including Rotary International. Along with health workers, ASHA workers, anganwadi workers and Kudumbashree members have been deployed as volunteers for the campaign.