Dr Mansukh Mandavia, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, began the National Polio Immunization Drive for 2022 on Saturday by delivering vaccination drops to children under the age of five at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
On Sunday 27th February, an immunisation drive was held across the country. Every year, India holds one National Immunization Day (NID) and two Sub-National Immunization Days (SNIDs) to maintain population immunisation against wild poliovirus and retain its polio-free status. During the Polio NID, approximately 15 crore children would be vaccinated in 735 districts across 36 states and UTs.
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviyaasserted that, “India’s strategic fight against polio is a success story of India’s public health policy against vaccine-preventable diseases. We need to continue to be vigilant and ensure that every child under 5 years of age must get polio drops.”
The drive has alreadu been held in Meghalaya on January 24, 2022, while Mizoram aims to hold it on March 1, 2022, for local reasons. The Polio NID will be held on March 20 and 24, 2022, in the election-bound states of Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, respectively.
He emphasised the significance of marking National Immunization Day, saying that Swastha Bharath can only be realised if children are healthy. The goal of Mission Indradhanush, or the Polio Vaccination Drive, is to protect people from terrible illnesses like polio.
Mandaviya further added that, “Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, Universal Immunization Programme is focusing to protect children from more diseases than ever before and has introduced several new vaccines like Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), Rotavirus vaccine, and Measles-Rubella vaccine (MR) in the recent past.
“Further, to provide additional protection to our children, the Centre has also introduced the injectable inactivated Polio vaccine into its routine immunization programme. While we are making efforts to protect our children from more and more diseases, it is important that all vaccines under the programme reach every child of our country”, stated the minister.
The Union Health Secretary emphasised the progress made so far in implementing the National Immunization Program. He said, “Though India is polio free, it is still our responsibility to remain vigil. Transit teams deployed at all the states to ensure immunization. And, continuous pulse polio implementation at borders are happening as our neighbouring countries are still reporting Polio Cases.”
The Union Health Minister, further emphasised the importance of commemorating National Immunization Day, “The aim of Swastha Bharath can only be achieved if our children are healthy. The objective of Mission Indradhanush or Polio Vaccination Drive is to protect our children against such deadly diseases. Since our neighbouring countries are still not polio free, we should remain vigil and continue the vaccination program. Over 15 crore children of age less than 5 years will be vaccinated in the coming months.”
“Door-to-door Vaccination campaigns through robust micro-planning will be done to ensure that no one is left. I congratulate all the Health Care Workers, Stakeholders like WHO, UNICEF, Rotary club and NGOs for making this immunization programme a Lok Bhagidari Andolan as envisioned by our Hon’ble Prime Minister. I request all families to come forward to get their children Vaccinated.”
