National polio drive pushed to January 31

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 rescheduled to January 31.

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

“The massive countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive will be rolled out by the Prime Minister from January

16. This would be the world’s largest immunisation exercise. Therefore, it has been decided by the ministry of health in consultation with the office of the President of India to reschedule the Polio vaccination day, also known as the National Immunisation Day (NID) or ‘Polio Ravivar’ to January 31,” the Union health ministry said.

The President will launch the Polio National Immunisation Day by administering polio drops to a few children at the Rashtrapati Bhawan at 11:45am, the ministry said in a statement.