Hyderabad:The health department has scheduled administration of polio drops to around 18 lakh children below five years of age in five districts on November 22 as part of the Sub-National Immunisation Day (SNID)-2026.
The Pulse Polio campaign will be conducted in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Sangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Hanamkonda districts. Two drops of the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) will be administered at specially established booths, an official told Deccan Chronicle.
Health teams will conduct a house-to-house campaign on November 23 and 24 to identify and vaccinate children who missed the booth-based drive. The campaign will continue on November 25 in Greater Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy districts, the official added.
The department has set a target of immunising 18,01,698 children in the 0–5 age group. It will establish 7,602 polio booths, deploy 245 mobile teams and set up 245 transit points. The programme will be supervised by 761 route supervisors, with the participation of 1,709 auxiliary nurse midwives, 5,682 ASHA workers and 5,655 Anganwadi workers.
Special attention will be given to children in vulnerable communities who are more likely to miss vaccination. These include children of migrant labourers, nomadic communities and mendicants, as well as those living at brick kilns, construction sites, agricultural work locations, urban slums and newly developed colonies on city outskirts. Children from fishing and tribal communities will also be covered.
The department will coordinate with various government departments and agencies, including women development and child welfare, municipal administration, school education, panchayat raj, Metro Rail, railways, defence, and RTC, to ensure that no child was missed. Health minister Damodar Rajanarsimha directed officials to create widespread awareness about the campaign and appealed to parents to ensure that every child below five years receives the two drops of polio vaccine.
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