“India continues to remain polio free. What has been found here is a vaccine-derived polio virus and not a wild strain. There is nothing to be alarmed as we are following all the protocols prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” said Union Minister for Health J.P. Nadda here on Thursday.
“The country has been polio free for the last five years and this has to be conveyed loud and clear. Our surveillance system is robust so we were able to catch it. The Central and State Health officials have been working in coordination for the last few days to deal with the matter,” he said, commending the State government for its prompt action.
The Minister was addressing the media after interacting with the State government health officials and representatives of the WHO and Unicef, where he was given a powerpoint presentation on the ongoing special immunisation drive in the capital and the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district.
Mr. Nadda said an additional dose of one lakh injectable polio vaccine is being supplied and assured complete support from the Centre to the Government here in this exercise. “Whatever the State wants we are ready to give,” he declared and hinted a total revamp of the polio vaccine delivery mechanism soon.
Earlier, TS Health Minister C. Laxma Reddy informed that 2.10 lakh children from six weeks to three years of age children have been given the injectable polio vaccine and another 3.5 to 4 lakh children are going to be injected in the next three days. If necessary, the campaign will also be extended to cover all the missing children.
On the fourth day of the immunisation drive across 808 booths in 11 identified clusters, 43,380 children were received the vaccine. The focus now is on identifying and locating the missed children based on the lists particularly from the high risk areas, said TS chief programme officer – National Health Mission, Dr. G. Srinivas Rao.
BJP leaders K. Laxman, G. Kishan Reddy, Union Health Ministry’s joint secretary Vandana Khurana, TS principal secretary (Health) Rajeshwar Tiwari, Commissioner for Health & Family Welfare Buddhaprakash and others were present.
