THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Utmost caution is needed for fighting the debilitating polio disease, said Health Minister KK Shailaja. “The virus spreads from person to person and can infect the spinal cord causing paralysis. Vaccination should be administered for children to make their body immune to the virus,” she said while inaugurating the state-level polio immunisation drive at the Community Health Centre at Vilappil here on Monday.
“The country has been certified polio-free by the Regional Polio Certification Commission in 2014. But the recent outbreak of the disease in neighbouring countries has put the focus back on the need for stringent monitoring and execution of the immunisation drive,” Shailaja said .
As part of the drive, 24,50,477 children, who are below five years, will be administered with the vaccine. According to the health department, booths have been setup at hospitals, health centres, bus stands, railway stations etc, to distribute oral poliovirus vaccine. In addition, transit booths and mobile teams have been setup to reach out to migrant camps and tribal areas. Besides setting up 24,000 vaccination booths, training has also been provided to 24,247 teams for conducting house-to-house visits for ensuring that no child has been left out from the campaign. The house visits are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Massive vaccination drive
As part of the drive, 24,50,477 children, who are below five years, will be administered with the vaccine. Besides setting up 24,000 booths, training has been provided to 24,247 teams for conducting house-to-house visits.