Oral polio vaccine was administered to children below the age of five across Tiruchi district under phase I of the Pulse Polio immunisation campaign on Sunday.
An estimated population of 2.47 lakh children in the age group of 0-5 was targeted for coverage under the campaign. Of this, 1.59 lakh children were from rural areas. District health officials said the campaign had evoked good response right from morning and nearly 90 per cent of the targeted population was covered during the day.
The vaccine was administered through 1,665 centres in the district, including 230 in Tiruchi Corporation limits. Over 6,500 government employees and volunteers were deployed to carry out the campaign. Mobile teams also administered the drops at railway stations, bus stands, places of worship and toll plazas on the national highways to cover children in transit.
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Health workers would carry out a door-to-door campaign over the next few days to administer the drops to children who were not covered on Sunday. T.P.Poonachi, Minister for Khadi and Village Industries, inaugurated the campaign in Srirangam in the presence of Collector Jayashree Muralidharan and Mayor A Jaya.