Times News NetworkKanpur: A total of 5,12,184 children in the 0-5 years age group will be administered polio drops across the district on Sunday under the Pulse Polio Immunization Campaign being conducted by the district administration.To create public awareness about the campaign, district magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh on Saturday flagged off an awareness rally from the premises of the Chief Medical Officer’s office.Speaking on the occasion, he said that India had achieved a historic milestone in polio eradication and maintaining the polio-free status was the collective responsibility of every citizen. He appealed to parents to ensure that all children below five years of age are administered polio drops during the campaign.He appealed to parents to take all children aged between birth and five years to the nearest polio booth on the scheduled dates to ensure that they receive the polio vaccine. If, for any reason, it is not possible to reach a booth, the anti-polio medicine can also be obtained at the nearest health centre.He stated that if even a single child is missed, the protective shield of Pulse Polio is broken, therefore, delivering the polio dose to every eligible child is the campaign’s top priority.According to chief medical officer Dr Haridatta Nemi around 2,069 polio booths have been set up in the district for the campaign. A door-to-door drive will commence on June 29. For this purpose, 8,561 door-to-door teams, 672 transit teams, and 350 mobile teams have been constituted. In total, 9,585 teams will operate during the campaign, with 12,642 health workers and support personnel deployed.He stated that a detailed micro-plan has been prepared for the campaign. A special strategy has been devised to ensure outreach to children at brick kilns, railway stations, bus terminals, and construction sites, as well as those belonging to nomadic and migrant families. Teams have been deployed in sensitive areas based on special surveys to ensure that no eligible child misses out on the anti-polio vaccine.The awareness rally which started from CMO’s office reached PAC crossing and concluded back at the office premises.The CMO, District Immunization Officer, Chief Medical Superintendent (Manyavar Kanshiram Combined Hospital and Trauma Centre) and others participated in the rally.
