Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Plan to rework strategy for pulse polio programme

CHENNAI: Experts from the World Health Organisation, the Government of India’s National Polio Surveillance Project and other medical and voluntary associations met in Chennai to discuss the strategy for the forthcoming second phase of the Pulse Polio programme.

In the light of the experience in December, when a series of rumours started about deaths among children who took the polio vaccine stymied the vaccine programme, leaving about 1.51 lakh children without immunisation, the Directorate of Public Health decided to rework the strategy for the February 1 immunisation day.

S.Elango, Director of Public Health, told The Hindu that representatives from the WHO, the NPSP, the Indian Association of Paediatricians and the Indian Medical Association, and Rotary Clubs met with health department officials to brainstorm on how to ensure that all children are covered in February.

Some of the suggestions that emerged from the meeting include launching an intensified information, education, communication campaign right through January, exhorting parents to bring their children for the next round of immunisation.

It was pointed out that hitherto, none of the campaigns had even indicated the safety aspect of the Oral Polio Vaccine, and that there was now a necessity to project that part of the campaign. “The OPV is an extremely safe vaccine. We are now going all out to provide information related to its safety to the public. We think it is essential now to cover all children under five years,” Dr. Elango said.

Rotary Clubs have volunteered to carry on an advocacy campaign with policy-makers and leaders of all political parties, providing information about the safety of the vaccine. Interpersonal communication is also going to be part of the revised strategy, he said. Actors will be roped in to be brand ambassadors, considering the success that actor Rajnikant once had as the voice of the polio vaccine campaign. Health officials are hoping for a repeat of that kind of mass appeal.

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