Rally in support of pulse polio drive

Guntur: A rally to focus on pulse polio immunization was organised on Saturday by the District Medical and Health Department. The rally was flagged off by the Rural SP Rama Krishna. Addressing participants in the rally, district collector Kantilal Dande reminded that due to the efforts put in by one and all, the last polio case was registered in the district in 1999 and the last case in the state was in 2008.

The pulse polio immunization will begin on February 22 at 8 am in all the 2563 booths in the district apart from pressing into service 91 mobile teams and 10,434 vaccinators who will fan across the length and breadth of the district. About 4.5 lakh children from 0-5 years of age will be covered. Besides on February 23-24, door to door vaccination campaign will be undertaken to cover those who missed the vaccine the previous day. On February 25 door- to- door vaccination will be conducted in the municipal areas of the city.

Rural Superintendent of Police Rama Krishna who spoke on the occasion appealed to the people to make good use of the opportunity to get their children vaccinated against polio. State government employees and members of general public participated in the rally. Meanwhile in Srikakulam District Medical and Health Officer Shyamala has called upon the people to visit the pulse polio immunisation centres with their children below five years of age for receiving the drops.

She said the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme would be conducted for three days from Sunday. The vaccine and other materials were already placed in various centres across the district. On the first day, polio drops would be given at the centres. Later, the Health Department and other staff members would go round houses to administer them. Dr Shyamala said as many as 7,040 high risk group children had been identified in 186 areas in the district. New migrants would also be screened for polio cases among children.