The Mysuru district administration hopes to cover all the estimated 2.31 lakh children below five years of age in the district during the pulse polio drive that was launched on Sunday.
After Minister for Social Welfare H.C. Mahadevappa, who is also the Minister in charge of Mysuru district, launched the pulse polio drive in the district by administering pulse polio drops to children at the Seth Mohandas Tulasidas Hospital in the city, Mysuru District Health and Family Welfare Officer P.C. Kumaraswamy said the drive is expected to cover 95 per cent of the targeted children on the first day on Sunday.
With teams of vaccinators scheduled to go house-to-house for the next three days – on March 4, 5, and 6 – Dr. Kumaraswamy said the district administration hopes to achieve 100 per cent target in the district. The district administration had identified 1,500 high risk and vulnerable groups in Mysuru. “We will achieve 100 per cent implementation,” he said.
He said a total of 1,650 booths had been set up in the district while 6,654 vaccinators had been deployed. “Not even one child below five years of age should miss the pulse polio”, he said.
During the launch of the pulse polio drive, Mr. Mahadevappa also gave away wheelchairs and other essential kits for special children. Laptops were given away to children of construction workers on behalf of the Department of Labour on the occasion.
Meanwhile, similar pulse polio drives were launched across Mandya, Kodagu, and Chamarajanagar districts.
While the district administration of Chamarajanagar was targeting 65,835 children below five years in the district, Mandya district administration had set up 723 polio vaccination booths across the district to cover its entire population of below five years children.
In Kodagu, the district administration had targeted 36,595 children below five years of age including 32,261 in rural areas and 4,334 in urban areas.
