Polio drive in Karnataka on Jan 19

Team Udayavani, Jan 9, 2020, 11:35 AM IST

Bengaluru: An oral polio vaccination drive will be initiated in all districts of Karnataka for children between ages upto to 5 years on January 19 and sum of Rs 4.82 crore has been sanctioned by the government for the purpose.

Speaking in this regard Dr Rajini Nagesh Rao of the health and family welfare department, “Polio vaccine will be administered orally at schools, anganwadis, private pediatric clinics, primary healthcare centres, community healthcare centres and district hospitals. The state is targetting 65 lakh children.”

Even if children are vaccinated, another round of polio vaccine will serve as a booster for their immunity, informed sources.

Meanwhile, school vaccination deadline has also been extended, as of January 7, diphtheria vaccination covered 62 percent of the districts and tetanus vaccine 75 per cent under the school vaccination campaign 2019-2020. The department started it in on December 11 and set the end of the month as the deadline. However, it was later extended to January 10, owing to the shortage of vaccines.