HYDERABAD: About 99 per cent of the targeted population of children were administered polio drops on the first day of Pulse Polio campaign, which began on Sunday.Officials started administering the polio drops from 12 am itself at transit points such as railway stations and major bus stations. Besides this, booth-level immunisation was also taken up. Children below five years will be vaccinated during the three-day campaign. It might be extended by another day in Hyderabad.
House to house vaccination will be taken up on Monday and Tuesday and the children who missed taking the drops will be given the bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV). Hyderabad district immunisation officer Dr Nagarjun Rao said that they need to meet as many as 9.47 lakh targeted homes.
Centre at Kukatpally runs out of vaccine
On the first day of polio campaign, parents with their children had to wait for around two-hours in at least one centre in Kukatpally limits, as the centre ran out of vaccine doses. One of the parents Gopagoni Subash said that when he along with his 15-month-old daughter went to a Polio booth at Jal Vayu Vihar, Kukatpally, at around 3 pm, volunteers there said that vaccines were not available. Officials too said that they received calls from Kukatpally limits asking for vaccine doses.
“We waited till 5 pm and returned without taking any vaccine. In an hour, at least 50 people from other centres too came to enquire if the vaccine was available,” Subash said.However, officials from the Health department said they got stock from other centres.“They did not run out of vaccine doses. The number of people who came for vaccination was more than what was expected,” said Dr G Sudheera, joint director of child health immunisation.