As the country gears up to launch the mega anti-Covid-jab drive for health workers on January 16, children in the age group of 0-5 years will have to wait to get their share of polio drops with the Government rescheduling the polio immunisation programme from earlier January 17 to January 31 across India.
“The massive countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive will be rolled out by the Prime Minister from January 16. This would be the world’s largest immunisation exercise. Therefore, it has been decided by the Health Ministry in consultation with the office of the President of India to reschedule the Polio vaccination day, also known as the National Immunisation Day (NID) or ‘Polio Ravivar’ to 31st January,” the Ministry said in the statement.
The decision is in keeping with the stated policy of the Union Health Ministry to ensure that COVID management and vaccination services as well as non-Covid essential health services proceed in tandem without adversely impacting each other, said the Union Health Ministry in a statement here on Thursday.
The President will launch the Polio National Immunisation Day on 30th January by administering Polio drops to some children at the Rashtrapati Bhawan at 11:45 am, the statement said.