Polio vaccine drive tomorrow, says Minister K Sudhakar

Bengaluru: Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K.Sudhakar has appealed to parents to immunize their children against polio on January 31.

Speaking to media here in Vidhana Soudha on Friday, he said that the polio vaccination was postponed to January 31 from January 17 due to Covid-19 vaccination programme. As many as 64,07,930 children in the age group of 0-5 will be given polio vaccination in the State.

"Polio vaccination drive will be flagged off by the Chief Minister at his official residence. Even if children have been vaccinated earlier, they have to be administered it again. Though not a single polio case has been reported in the last 10-11 years and India is declared polio-free, vaccine is a must as it is still found in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan," added Sudhakar.

He said that the government has 85,05,060 doses of polio vaccine and 1,10,179 vaccinators in the State.

"The government has formed 6,645 supervisory teams, 904 mobile teams and identified 32,908 booths across the State for the purpose. So far 2,90,533 people have been administered Covid-19 vaccine in the State and there is no casualties due to any side effects. People should not believe misinformation. Even in cases where side effects have been found, they have recovered. If we don't utilise a panacea like this it will be a huge loss to us," he explained.