Gurugram: Health department to give polio doses to Afghan refugee children till 15 years

In August 2021, the WHO said that Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to “remain endemic for polio, with high transmission of wild polio virus and circulating vaccine derived polio viruses-2

The Haryana health department will include children of refugees from Afghanistan -- in the age group of 0-15 years -- in a three-day pulse polio campaign in Gurugram scheduled to start from Sunday, said officials on Friday.

All the refugee children will get the polio doses at 1,579 pulse polio vaccination centres set up for the purpose in the district. (Representative photo/HT archive)

Virender Yadav, chief medical officer (CMO), Gurugram, said that all the refugee children -- a priority in the drive -- will get the polio doses at 1,579 pulse polio vaccination centers set up for the purpose in the district.

“A large number of people from Afghanistan, along with their children, come to Gurugram for treatment, and many also live in the district. It is the district health department’s priority to include these migrant kids in the drive... The World Health Organization (WHO) has also expressed apprehensions about the impact of the polio in Afghanistan, after the change of power in the country. So, the health department will give polio doses to these children,” Yadav said.

Yadav on Friday conducted a meeting in this regard, and also issued guidelines to all the private hospitals in Gurugram for the same. “India has been a polio-free country since 2014, but the roots of this disease are still frozen in Afghanistan. So, we have also changed the current age group for administering polio doses to the Afghan children in India... Polio doses will be given to all Indian children between zero and five years, and to Afghan children between zero and 15 years,” he added.

In August 2021, the WHO said that Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to “remain endemic for polio, with high transmission of wild polio virus (WPV) and circulating vaccine derived polio viruses-2 (cVDPVs-2)”. According to the WHO, Afghanistan reported 11 wild polio cases and 261 circulating VDPV-2 cases in the past one year. “The migration of Afghan nationals, and the evacuation of Indian citizens from Afghanistan have enhanced the risk for the importation of wild poliovirus or vaccine-derived polioviruses into India.”