: More than 1.85 lakh children were administered Pulse Polio vaccine in the first phase of the Polio immunisation drive in Kozhikode district on Sunday. These included 824 children from migrant families as well.
The district-level inauguration of the drive was held at Juma Masjid in Nadapuram where Menakkoth Ahmed Khasi administered the first drop of polio vaccine to Amrithavarshan, son of District Collector N. Prashanth. E.K.Vijayan, Nadapuram MLA, inaugurated the programme while the Collector delivered the keynote address. Nadapuram grama panchayat president Safeera Moonnamkuni was present along with District Medical Officer R.L. Saritha and ADMO Piyoosh Namboothirippad.
Choosing Nadapuram Masjid was a strategic move of the Health Department in the district to convince certain sections of the community that have expressed aversion to immunisation in general. However, the drive had an overwhelming response at the Masjid where the Collector was welcomed by the Masjid committee with the traditional ‘Veeralippattu’. Thooneri block panchayat president C.H. Balakrishnan presided over the function.
Mayor V.K.C. Mammad Koya administered the first drop of polio vaccine to inaugurate the drive in Kozhikode city.
The District Medical Officer informed that volunteers of the Health Department would conduct house visits in the following days to ensure that each and every child below 5 years of age had been administered the vaccine.
