Hyderabad: With polio virus being found in the Amberpet nala in Hyderabad, the health department has decided to carry out a special polio drive in the city and Ranga Reddy districts. The presence of Type 2 vaccine-derived polio virus was detected in the sewage. As a precautionary measure, a campaign to vaccinate all children in the age group of 6 weeks to 3 years will be carried out from June 20 to 26.
Principal secretary, health, R. Trivedi said, “There is no need to panic. As India has been declared polio-free, tests are carried out regularly to ascertain if there are traces of polio virus in the environment. Once found, vaccination has to be carried out again in that area so that the children are not affected.”
The inactivated polio vaccine injection will be given in a phased manner and all the volunteers from the World Health Organisation, Unicef and Rotary Club will participate in the campaign.
