HYDERABAD: The National Pulse Polio Vaccination Drive, which began on Sunday, received good response in Hyderabad, according to public health officials. A record 91 per cent of children between zero to five years of age was covered in the drive in Hyderabad districts.
Though the drive has been cut short by a day when compared to the previous years, the officials are confident that they would cover all the children left out by the end of Tuesday’s door-to-door campaign.
The national edition of the polio drive uses the traditional oral polio vaccination instead of the injectable one to increase immunity. In some of the areas in the city that fall under Medchal district, about 94.19 per cent of children were vaccinated.
Speaking to Express, Dr Nagarjuna, the Immunisation Officer, said, "We had identified 111 high-risk zones, with an estimated population of 7,000, of which 4,000 have been covered. Of the total estimated population of five lakh, 4,47,517 have been administered polio drops. We have close to 11,200 personnel, including volunteers, to administer the polio drops to children. Another 500 volunteers are part of the transit team around stations, zoos and the exhibition park."
Dr N Revathi, a senior public health officer, said, "We will start door-to-door campaign in the city to cover the children who may have missed the vaccination. ASHA workers, ANMs and volunteers will check children in all the high-risk and residential areas for vaccination marking and administer polio drops to anyone who may have missed it. Last year, the schedule included one day of booth vaccination and three days of door-to-door campaign. This year, the campaign has been cut short."
However, while the officials claimed that awareness drives were conducted in all the residential areas, hospitals and mosques, most of the parents who arrived to the PHCs said they got to know about the drive through WhatsApp forwards or word of mouth.