Manipur is all set to conduct Intensified Pulse Polio Immunization (IPPI) as a part of the National Immunization Day from March 24 to March 26, targeting a population of 3,53,774 chidren in all districts of Manipur.
During a media sensitization programme held in Imphal, Directorate of Family Welfare on Wednesday, Deputy Director of its directorate, Dr Gaipu Longmei said that the programme will be carried out in almost all healthcare facilities, Anganwadi centres with the support of 708 supervisors and 14,151 vaccinators.
Altogether, 3,538 oral polio vaccination (ORV) booths will be opened where children in the 0-5 age group can be administered ORV on March 24.
On the remaining two days, i.e., March 25 and March 26, door to door visits will be made to ensure that not a single eligible child is left out in the IPPI programme, he added.
He informed that WHO had removed India from the list of “endemic countries with active poliovirus transmission” on February 24, 2012 and received “Polio-free certification’ from WHO on March 27 March 2014. The last polio case was reported in Howrah in West Bengal on January 13, 2011, he informed.
Despite India being free from polio, the country is still amongst the high risk group because of high prevalence rate of polio infected children in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, he added while appealing to all the parents to administer polio vaccine to prevent from life threatening polio virus infection that can cause total paralysis for lifetime or death.
Supplementing the programme, joint director, Family Welfare, Dr T Nilakanta Singh said that polio immunization programme was launched in India in 1995 with a commitment to fulfil the resolution passed by World Health Assembly in 1988 for global polio eradication.
People who are born before 1995 don’t get the facilities of polio vaccination. This group would be vulnerable if the case of polio virus mutation occurs in future.
To prevent such an eventuality, people should take polio virus infection seriously even if India is not amongst polio prevalence rate, he informed while stating the state is conducting a routine immunization programme. However, to cover until the last child, IPPI is being held as a supplementary programme, he said.
