Over 6 lakh children given polio vaccine under special campaign in Delhi

New Delhi: Over six lakh children were administered the polio vaccine on Sunday under a special campaign of the Delhi government, officials said. The Delhi government's Sub-National Immunisation Day (SNID) on Sunday will be followed by five days of House to House (HTH) 'Search & Immunize Activity' from December 11 to December 15.

A Delhi government statement said this is the first time this programme was run in a completely decentralised manner under the direct control of district magistrates and chief district medical officers who managed the manpower, logistics, vaccine distribution, and location of booths.

Booths were organised at all health facilities including hospitals, Anganwadi centres, select metro stations, railway stations, religious places, schools, government and private institutions/establishments.

Two drops of Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) were given to all children under five years of age at the pulse polio booths.

A total of 6,08,664 children were vaccinated at 5,836 booths.

More than 50 lakh households will be visited by HTH team during the five days, wherein all left out children who could not take the vaccine.

Approximately 18 lakh children are expected to be given the polio vaccine during this round.