National Immunization Day to target over 40 lakh kids in Telangana

The Telangana Health department aims to administer Pulse Polio vaccine drops to more than 40.97 lakh children aged below five years during the National Immunization Day campaign. Over 22,000 booths and hundreds of mobile teams have been deployed across the State.

Hyderabad: The Health department has set a target of administering Pulse Polio vaccine drops to as many as 40,97,749 children under the National Immunization Day programme, which is commencing on Sunday.

Two drops of Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) will be administered orally to all children in the age group of 0-5 years. A total of 52,04,140 vaccine doses have already been supplied to the districts.

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After the booth-day activity on Sunday, healthcare workers will carry out a house-to-house campaign to administer the vaccine to missing and left-out children on June 29 and 30. Given the large urban areas in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal and Sangareddy districts, the vaccine will be administered on July 1 as well.

This time, the campaign will lay special emphasis on immunising children from high-risk groups such as beggars, nomads, migrants, brick-kiln workers and urban slum dwellers, besides fishermen and tribal communities. Focus will also be laid on children at construction sites and those from labour and agricultural families, as well as in new colonies on the outskirts.

A total of 22,979 booths have been arranged where the drops will be administered. In addition, 903 mobile teams and 903 transit points have also been planned. For the smooth conduct of the campaign, the department has deployed 2,298 route supervisors. A total of 8,393 ANMs, 27,181 Asha workers and 34,442 AWWs have been drafted for the campaign.