TS launches polio vaccination drive

Hyderabad: In order to prevent strains of polio virus from entering the country from abroad, 10 Polio vaccination posts have been established at all district headquarters with District Immunization Officer (DIO) as District Nodal Officer. One such centre has also been set up at Hyderabad international airport.

All international travelers, irrespective of age group, travelling to and coming from other countries will receive Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) six weeks prior to departure.

With ongoing polio outbreaks in Pakistan and Afghanistan and having enormous migration to Middle-East countries, the threat is getting bigger and bigger, official sources said.

According to an official, Telangana has been consistently conducting pulse polio campaigns successfully since 1995. About 43 lakh children in the age group of zero to five years are being administered polio drops during each pulse polio campaigns. The last case of polio was detected on 03 July 2007.

However, the State has been making all possible efforts to maintain polio-free status achieved in the year 2007. Under ‘Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan’ to Polio importation, Mahbubnagar district has been poised as high risk and Rangareddy district as medium risk. All the necessary steps to detect polio cases have been taken, said the official.

Further, the official said in January and February 2016, polio campaigns would be conducted in all districts.