News Analysis India

Tag: polio vaccine

  • Rajasthan to administer polio vaccine to children on Sunday

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Children up to five years of age will be administered polio vaccine in the state on Sunday as part of a campaign to eradicate the disease, officials said.

    Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena had appealed for the drive to be held on February 27, saying polio can be eradicated only by administering its vaccine to the children. In a statement, Meena said 54,627 polio booths have been set up across the state to make the campaign a success.

    Apart from this, 2,215 transit teams and 3,381 mobile teams have been formed. He said that on the first day of the campaign, the medicine would be given at the booths Those left out will be administered the medicine in a door-to-door drive by health workers for the next two days.

    The minister said the last case of polio in the state came to light in November 2009. Since then, not a single case has been reported. He said no new case of polio has been found in our country after January 2011.

    Significantly, India was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization on 27th March 2014, Meena added. He said that the second phase of Mission Indradhanush 4.0 will be organised from March 7. In this, related vaccines will be given to children up to two years of age and pregnant women.

    He informed that the first phase of this year was organised from February 7 and the third phase will start from April 4. This is the 27th year of the Pulse Polio programme, which was launched in 1995.

  • Afghan returnees to be vaccinated against polio in India: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India has decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees against polio for free as a preventive measure against the wild polio virus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday. The minister also shared a photo where returnees could be seen getting jabs at the Delhi international airport.

    Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic. “We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine – OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus. Congratulations to the Health Team for their efforts to ensure public health Take a look at the vaccine drive at Delhi International Airport,” Mandaviya tweeted.

    We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine – OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio VirusCongratulations to the Health Team for their efforts to ensure public healthTake a look at the vaccine drive at Delhi International Airport pic.twitter.com/jPVF1lVmRu
    — Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 22, 2021
    India on Sunday evacuated 168 people including 107 Indians from Kabul in a military transport aircraft of the IAF amid the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital city following its takeover by the Taliban a week back.

    The country had earlier evacuated 200 people including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in Kabul in two C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the IAF after the Taliban seized control of Kabul. The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy, on Monday.

    The second C-17 aircraft evacuated around 150 people including Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel and some stranded Indians from Kabul on Tuesday. The Taliban swept across Afghanistan this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities including Kabul in the backdrop of the withdrawal of the US forces.

  • Polio vaccination fiasco: Doctor was busy on phone despite repeated pleas, say workers

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Asha workers have blamed the doctor for asking them to administer a hand sanitizer instead of the polio vaccine to the children in a Maharashtra village.

    ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers said while vaccinating the 12 kids in Kopari Kapsi village in Yavatmal district, Dr Amol Gavade had instructed them to administer the blue-coloured hand sanitizer instead of polio vaccine.

    Kopari Kapsi is the tribal village to which the children belonged. Four persons, including Dr Gavade, have been suspended in the incident.

    ALSO READ | Three health workers suspended after Maharashtra polio fiasco​“We told the doctor that the colour of the vaccine was pink, not blue. But the doctor told us that the vaccine colour is now changed… We kept clarifying with him, but he was busy talking with someone on his mobile phone,” said an ASHA worker.

    “We have been made a scapegoat. Our fault was that we listened to Dr Gavade. Had we refused to follow his instruction, he would have taken actions against us. Besides, the administration has given us only a day’s training instead of 15 days,” said the worker.

    Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said those suspended would be terminated if the probe established  them to be involved in the horrendous lapse. 

    Sources said the suspended ASHA workers were hired on contract basis.

    “The big fish are being protected while the small contract workers are suspended,” alleged a BJP leader.  

  • 89 lakh kids below 5 years given polio drops across India on ‘Polio Ravivar’: Health ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Around 89 lakh children under five years of age, as per provisional data, were given polio drops across the country on Sunday on the occasion of Polio National Immunization Day, also known as ‘Polio Ravivar’, the Union health ministry said.

    The vaccination was done at around 7 lakh booths which were staffed with 12 lakh vaccinators and 1.8 lakh supervisors. “The booth activity will be followed by house-to-house surveillance (mop-up rounds) over the next two to five days to identify and vaccinate children who missed getting vaccinated at the booths,” the ministry said.

    Vaccination teams have also been deployed at bus terminals, railway stations, airports and ferry crossing to vaccinate children in transit to ensure no child misses the life-saving dose.

    All measures have been taken to ensure safety during the times of COVID-19 pandemic by maintaining coronavirus appropriate practices such as preventing overcrowding at booths, maintaining physical distance of two metres, wearing masks, washing hands and administering polio drops in well ventilated settings, the ministry underlined.

    Speaking at a function on the eve of the National Immunization Day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said, “Maintaining a polio-free status for 10 years is a huge accomplishment in the history of public health in India.”

    He also highlighted government efforts and actions to strengthen routine immunization to ensure that no child suffers from a vaccine-preventable disease. President Ram Nath Kovind had launched the National Polio Immunisation Day for 2021 by administering polio drops to children less than five years of age at Rashtrapati Bhawan on January 30.

    India has been free of polio for a decade, with the last case of wild poliovirus reported on January 13, 2011.

    However, the country continues to remain vigilant to prevent re-entry of poliovirus into the country from neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where wild poliovirus continues to cause diseases, the ministry said in its statement.

    India conducts one nationwide National Immunisation Day (NID) and two Sub-National Immunization Days (SNIDs) for polio every year to maintain population immunity against wild poliovirus and to sustain its polio-free status.

  • ‘Unforeseen activities’: Govt postpones national polio immunisation programme from January 17

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The National Polio immunisation programme, as part of which children in the age group of 0-5 years are administered polio drops, has been deferred “till further notice” by the Centre citing “unforeseen activities”.

    The National Immunisation Day (NID), commonly known as Pulse Polio Immunisation programme, was scheduled for January 17 across India.

    The Union Health Ministry has communicated the decision to defer the polio immunisation programme to all states through a letter on January 9 “This is to inform that due to unforeseen activities, it is decided to postpone the scheduled Polio NID (National Immunisation Day) round from January 17, 2021 till further notice,” according to the letter sent to the Principal Secretary in the Health department of all states.

    Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan had said on January 8 that polio immunisation will be carried out on January 17.

    “We have decided that on January 17, we are going to have our national immunisation days for polio which will run for two to three days,” he had said adding the drive covered aspects like identifying and immunising children left out from vaccination.

    The vaccination is very essential to ensure that the nation maintained overall immunity levels against polio virus, he had said.

    The country will launch its COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16 in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the world’s largest inoculation programme with priority to be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.

    According to the COVID-19 Vaccine Operational Guidelines issued  to states for the immunisation drive by health ministry, the COVID-19 vaccine will be offered first to healthcare workers, and frontline workers and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities based on evolving pandemic situation.