Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh launched the first phase of the Pulse Polio Immunization Programme in the State by administering polio drops to children aged below five years at PWD Circuit House at Hamirpur today.
117 transit teams and 5868 regular booths had been set up to cover around 6,83,356 children in the State. The vaccination teams would visit about 13, 95,185 households to cover the targeted children. 1237 high risk pockets mostly in slum and construction sites had also been identified where as many as 37,106 children would be administered polio drops.
Virbhadra Singh said that Himachal Pradesh was virtually polio-free State as no case of the disease had been reported since 2009. The last case was detected in 2009 in Nalagarh block of Solan district and the state has remained polio-free since then, he said.
He said that polio was a crippling disease which could lead to lifelong disability and especially children could have tremendous negative mental and social impact. Therefore, the pulse polio immunization programme was a very vital step in eradicating this disease and the programme would continue with the same intensity in the future also to protect the children from this potentially fatal infectious disease
