Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Pulse Polio from today

C. Maya

Better performance likely

Thiruvananthapuram: As the State gets ready for the second round of Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) on Sunday, the health administration officials expect the districts that had a low coverage in the first round to perform better in the second round.

The reports about the death of a schoolgirl in Vattoli, Kottiyoor panchayat in Kozhikode district, allegedly following a routine tetanus toxoid vaccination, had cast a shadow on the first round of the PPI drive held in January.

Kozhikode district, which had recorded almost 100 per cent PPI coverage in 2006, registered coverage of just 68 per cent this time. The Pulse Polio coverage in Kottiyoor panchayat was a dismal 38 per cent. The Vattoli incident had its repercussions in neighbouring Wayanad and Malappuram also, where the PPI coverage in the first round was 89.9 per cent and 95.2 per cent respectively.

"The poor performance by these three districts has brought down the State's total PPI coverage from 99 per cent last year to 95.2 per cent this year (first round.) In Kozhikode, only 53 per cent children were brought to the booths for polio vaccination. Our doctors and health workers went from house to house for the next one week persuading parents and managed to bring the final coverage figure to 68 per cent," says P.K. Jamila, Deputy Director, Health and Family Welfare.

The expert medical committee set up by the Government to look into the Vattoli incident had reported last month that the tetanus vaccine as well as the syringe used to administer it were safe. The autopsy report of the girl had revealed that the death had been due to multi-organ failure following Reyes Syndrome and that vaccination had nothing to do with it.

Now that the air has been cleared, the health administration hopes that the low coverage in the first round of the PPI can be made up in the second round. Intensive information and awareness campaigns have been going on in Kozhikode, Malappuram and Wayanad since the past two weeks to ensure that the second round of the PPI evokes a better response from the people.

The large number of unimmunised children in the State this year would mean that Kerala has a long march ahead towards polio eradication.

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