25 February 2007
5.45 Lakh City Children Immunized For Polio
At the end of a week-long door-to-door campaign for the second phase of the pulse polio drive, more than 5.45 lakh children have been immunized in the city. Through this, the campaign has achieved a coverage of 111.8 percent, better than the record of the last two years.
The second phase of the intensive pulse polio campaign, which was held on Feb. 11, had covered 4.78 lakh children with the booths achieving 95.70 percent. According to officials of the district Family Welfare Department, the coverage might have increased due to the extended duration of camps at important railway stations.
“Usually, the camp is held only for one day at railway stations. We requested authorities to extend it for two more days. Through these camps, we were able to cover migrating children”, an official said.
The first phase of the campaign was held on Jan. 7 and covered 5.22 lakh children. This witnessed a coverage of 108.20 percent, while the one in May reached 104.40 percent coverage.
Following completion of the second phase, officials will conduct a dipstick survey with random sampling to check for dropouts from the immunization programme.
“The survey would also be a source of awareness for the public. Two Maternity and Child Health Officers would be deputed to each zone. There are 10 health posts for each zone. They would select two health posts at random and conduct the survey among children”, the official added. The result of the survey would be know in a week. The prime aim of the survey was to cover dropouts of the immunization campain, officials said.