PANAJI
Even as most focus is on the Covid vaccination drive, parents stepped out with their young kids below the age of five years to the nearest health centres to continue one of India’s most successful immunization stories, beating polio.
A total of 1,03,804 children in Goa were administered a dose of pulse polio on Sunday. Of these, 45,016 kids were from North Goa and 58,788 were from South Goa.
The Health Department set up 641 booths across the State with the aim of covering a target of 1,04,122 children below the age of five years under the national pulse polio immunization programme. The shortfall in coverage was 318.
The immunization programme had been held back in 2020 owing to the safety concerns during the raging pandemic.
On January 31, when ‘Polio Ravivar’ or the National Immunisation Day was observed, the State’s health machinery adopted all the safety protocols in place for Covid-19.
The three-day long drive will conclude on February 2.
With the last known case of polio being recorded in West Bengal in January 2011, India achieved the status of a polio-free country a decade ago.
