President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday launched the Pulse Polio programme for 2018 by administering polio drops to children less than five years old, at the Rahstrapati Bhawan. January 28 is National Immunisation Day.
More than 17 crore children of less than five years across the country will be given polio drops as part of the drive of Government of India to sustain polio eradication from the country. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body). India officially eradicated polio in 2013 after which no infection by the wild polio virus has been detected in the country.
Speaking at the function, Union minister for health and family welfare J P Nadda said, “We need to remain vigilant and maintain the population immunity and sensitive surveillance till global polio eradication happens as poliovirus is still circulating in other parts of the world which may reinfect us.”
He added: “It is important that all vaccines under the programme reach every last child of our country.” In order to mitigate the risk of poliovirus importation, the immunity against polio infection is maintained through National and Sub-National Polio rounds along with sustained high quality polio surveillance. To provide additional protection, government of India has also introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) into its routine immunization program.
Nadda pointed out that several new vaccines have been introduced in the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) in recent years. These include the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine, and Measles-Rubella vaccine. “To further strengthen and accomplish our goals we have launched Mission Indradhanush and encouraged by its success, we have recently intensified the mission in October, 2017 to achieve more than 90% full immunization coverage by 2018,” Nadda said.
He said strengthening of the immunization programme has significantly contributed to the decline of Infant Mortality Rate from 39 in 2014 to 34 per 1000 live births in 2016 (as per SRS reports).
The health minister also appreciated the efforts of State Governments and the supporting organizations like WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International etc., for strengthening the efforts of the Government not only for polio programme but also for other initiatives in immunization. He also applauded the efforts of the thousands of volunteers, frontline workers, health officials across thestatesfor their tireless efforts in keeping the country polio-free.
