Varanasi health officials launch polio vaccination campaign for children

VARANASI: Chief Medical Officer Dr Sandeep Chaudhary launched the campaign by administering polio drops to children at the booth day organised on Sunday at Urban Community Health Centre Durgakund.The CMO said that 283,637 children were administered the polio vaccine at 1,813 booths organised in the district. This included 78,586 children at 715 booths in the city and 205,051 children at 1,098 booths in rural areas. From Monday to December 19, the health department team will go door-to-door to administer the polio vaccine. Additionally, missed children will be vaccinated on December 22. Under the campaign, a target has been set to vaccinate 527,562 children aged 0 to 5 years in the district.

He said that the polio vaccine is completely safe and effective. He also appealed to parents to ensure their children from birth to 5 years receive the polio vaccine. Additionally, all routine immunisation vaccines should be administered to children on time according to age.District Immunisation Officer (DIO) Dr S S Kanaujiya said that polio drops were administered to children from birth to 5 years at health centres, primary schools, and composite schools. Pulse polio drops are given at birth. Additionally, these drops are administered at 6, 10, and 14 weeks. The booster dose is given between 16 to 24 months. In this pulse polio campaign, Inner Wheel Club of Varanasi provided 10 jackets with the polio logo for transit teams as promotional material.