Ggm: Delayed by Covid vaccination process, inoculation for Pulse Polio to begin on Jan 31
Gurugram: Delayed by the COVID-19 vaccination process, inoculation of Pulse Polio drive is all set to start on January 31. According to officials, 3.6 lakh children are to be vaccinated. Around 1,266 polio booths that have been set up across Gurugram and 5,648 public officials will administer the vaccination process. In the outskirts, there are plans to provide vaccination to children in their homes. Around 500 high-risk zones have been identified by health officials.
According to officials from the district health department, private health workers are also to be involved for better coverage. The polio vaccination process was to begin in Gurugram from January 12. However, with COVID-19 vaccination process being undertaken on January 16, the process got delayed.
"We have been able to achieve success in our inoculation process of COVID-19 with more than 21,000 volunteers getting their first dose. We will now commence with our pulse polio campaigns that will cover over 3.6 lakh children. All preparations have been done and we will try to achieve more than the target we have planned, "said Dr. Virender Yadav, Chief Medical Officer Gurugram.
The Chief Medical Officer also expressed hope that this time a larger target will be met and more children will be vaccinated by his team.
Gurugram had earlier conducted the first phase of Polio vaccination in the month of September last year. Despite the number of COVID cases peaking at that time, the officials of the district health department were still able to inoculate 2.5 lakh children.
There has been no case of Polio since 2010 in Gurugram. The health officials however still remain vigilant as Gurugram is being placed in the category of 13 high-risk districts in Haryana for Polio disease.
The health officials who will be administering Polio vaccination drive have also been strictly instructed to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Along with wearing masks and sanitising of hands, the public officials will not be opening the mouth of the children to give the vaccine. The opening of the mouth will be done by parents following which the health worker will drop the Polio vaccine from a safe distance.
