More than 96 per cent of children below the age of five in Mysuru city were administered pulse polio vaccine on Sunday as part of the nation-wide polio immunisation drive held on Sunday.
Mysore City Corporation’s (MCC) Health Officer Dr. Ramachandrappa told The Hindu that more than 96 per cent of the targeted 88,436 children below the age of five had been administered polio drops on Sunday.
“In some areas like Indiranagar, the achievement was more than 100 per cent as children of tourists visiting the zoo were added to the figures,” he said.
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Overall, the response has been good in the city. “Even though house-to-house visits start only from Monday, our staff visited several slums in Gandhinagar and JNNURM houses and administered polio drops to the children there. We thought it fit to visit the slums on Sunday itself as some children may be away in schools on Monday,” Dr. Ramachandrappa added.
A total of 3,01,1191 children below the age of five in the district were targeted as part of the drive on Sunday. The district administration had set up 1,588 centres to administer polio drops and deployed 6,699 personnel.
A total of 18 transit centres had been set up across the district at various places of tourist interest, besides city and sub-urban bus-stands and railway stations.
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Follow up
Sunday’s immunisation drive will be followed up with visits to the houses till January 21 in Mysuru City and till January 20 in rural areas, to administer polio drops to children who missed today’s campaign. The second round of the drive will be held on February 22.
Earlier in the day, Minister in-charge of Mysuru district V. Srinivas Prasad launched the first round of the polio immunisation drive at the Lakshmidevammanni Maternity Hospital in Jayalakshmipuram.