RANCHI: The Jharkhand government on Sunday launched a three-day pulse polio immunisation campaign across all the 24 districts, targeting 61.26 lakh children below five years of age.
The campaign was launched here by Shashi Prakash Jha, Mission Director of National Health Mission (NHM), Jharkhand and Ranchi Civil Surgeon Dr Prabhat Kumar at the Sadar Hospital.
According to officials, the vaccination drive will be held at 24,507 polio booths across the state on Sunday. This will be followed by door-to-door visits on June 29 and 30 by Health Department teams to vaccinate children who could not visit the booths.
A total of 61.26 lakh children below five years of age will be administered oral vaccine drops, they said.
"In Ranchi district, over five lakh children will be administered polio drops during the drive. For this, around 3,900 booths have been set up and around 8,000 health functionaries deployed. I urge parents to bring children to their nearest booth on Sunday," Dr Kumar told PTI.
Subsequently, over the next two days, functionaries will visit door-to-door to immunise every child aged below five years who did not receive the polio drops on Sunday, the civil surgeon said.
Earlier, on June 24, the Health Department issued directions to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Education, and Information and Public Relations departments to ensure coordination and make the campaign a "people's movement".