SALIGAO: The state-wide pulse polio campaign received an overwhelming response with close to a lakh children getting vaccinated on National Immunisation Day.
A total of 98,245 children, 93.5% of the 1,05,083 target beneficiaries were vaccinated with two doses of oral polio on Sunday.
The children under five years receive two drops of the polio vaccine.
“The aim here is community protection. The vaccine is given in a pulse on a single day called the National Immuniation Day for Polio. On this day, the virus finds it difficult to find an unprotected person in the community and dies off,” director of health services Dr Ira Almeida said.
“We will try to cover those who were unable to get vaccinated in our mop up operations over the next three days,” Almeida said.
The Siolim panchayat area received a good response too, with around 2,000 children receiving the vaccine at the Siolim health centre during the day-long campaign.
After the day’s campaign, the team at the health centre will go to under-construction sites in every panchayat area of Siolim constituency and give pulse polio doses to children below the age of five, said in-charge at the Siolim health centre, Dr Sadhana Shetye.
Shetye appealed to parents to take advantage of the special campaign. Staff at the health centre and of the local anganwadi centre participated in the campaign.
At the Candolim health centre, a major health centre in Calangute constituency, 3,011 children under the age of five and a total of 45,000 children over the age of five received the dose, centre in-charge Dr Roshan Nazareth said.
He added that the drive saw good response at Verem, where several children availed of the campaign too.
