Families on their visit to India from polio-free countries do not visit polio booths to get their children below five years of age vaccinated against poliomyelitis on National Immunisation Days.
Describing this habit as dangerous, Dr Ajay Bagga, a member of the state Rapid Response
Team on polio eradication, has requested these families to visit special polio booths on February 24. Dr Bagga said that in 99.99% of the world, polio has been eliminated and in India no case has been reported for 25 months, but there was still a possibility that wild polio virus could be prevalent in the country. Hethat children from polio-free countries could get infection during their visit and thus carry the infection to their countries.
Dr Bagga that February 24 was the last National Immunisation Day 2013 and to have a polio-free India, children below five years should be immunised during this campaign. To immunise about 17.2 crore children in the country, the government has deployed about 23 lakh vaccinators and 1,55,000 supervisors, he said.