61 lakh children to be covered under pulse polio immunisation drive in State

Pioneer News Service
Ranchi/Pakur/Deoghar  

The Jharkhand government on Sunday launched a three-day pulse polio immunisation campaign across all the 24 districts, targeting 61.26 lakh children below five years of age.

The campaign was launched here by Shashi Prakash Jha, Mission Director of National Health Mission (NHM), Jharkhand and Ranchi Civil Surgeon Dr Prabhat Kumar at the Sadar Hospital. To ensure the campaign’s complete success, the Health Department has devised a two-phase strategy. Under this, on the first day of the campaign today, the vaccine will be administered at 24,507 polio booths set up across the state. Parents are urged to take their children to the nearest booth early in the day. For children unable to reach a booth today for any reason, Health Department teams will conduct door-to-door visits on the second and third days (June 29 and 30) to administer the polio dose, ensuring no child is left without this protective shield.

It is noteworthy that India was declared completely free of the ‘wild polio virus’ in 2011. Despite this, the polio virus continues to circulate in a few select countries worldwide. Consequently, the Ministry of Health is maintaining high vigilance to prevent the virus from re-emerging in India.

The Ranchi district administration is on high alert in view of the Shravani Mela and this national campaign. A target has been set to administer the vaccine to 505,524 children under the age of five in the district. On Saturday, during a press conference at the Civil Surgeon’s office, Civil Surgeon Dr. Prabhat Kumar flagged off a special awareness campaign vehicle. In Ranchi district total vaccination booths: 3,893 (across all blocks), booth team members deployed: 7,786 health workers, Supervisors for monitoring: 571 officials

Responsibilities for the complete success of this mega-campaign have been entrusted to Anganwadi workers, Sahiya Didis (ASHA workers), Panchayat representatives, Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and village-level organizations.

The pulse polio campaign forms part of the country’s ongoing efforts to maintain its polio-free status through universal immunisation of children.

In Santhal Pargana districts of Pakur and Deoghar too pulse polio immunization drive was carried out, the Pakur district administration has set a target of immunising 189,512 children aged below five years during the campaign.

Addressing health workers, Pakur DDC Arvind Kumar Lal stressed that no negligence should be tolerated in implementing the programme. He directed vaccinators and supervisors to ensure that every eligible child receives the oral polio vaccine. “No child should be left out of the campaign. Achieving 100 percent coverage is our priority,” he said.

To ensure smooth implementation, the Health Department has established 1,119 vaccination booths across the district. A total of 2,275 vaccinators and 268 supervisors have been deployed.

On the first day, children were vaccinated at designated booths, while health teams will conduct door-to-door visits over the next two days to reach children who could not attend the booths.

The DDC urged parents and the public to actively cooperate with health workers and ensure that all children under five years of age receive the vaccine, regardless of their previous vaccination status.

Special Officer Amit Kumar, DPM, DDM, DPC, DUHM officials, VCCM personnel and other Health Department staff were also present during the launch programme.

Deoghar Deputy Commissioner Saurabh Kumar Bhuvania formally inaugurated the Pulse Polio Immunization Campaign on June 28, 2026, by administering polio drops to newborn children at the New Sadar Hospital, Deoghar. On this occasion,  Deputy Development Commissioner Piyush Sinha and Civil Surgeon also gave polio drops to the present children.

The DC directed health department officials and staff to ensure that at least 80% of the children in the district are administered polio drops on ‘Booth Day’ today. To achieve 100% coverage, a door-to-door campaign will be conducted so that no child is left out.

Under this campaign, a total of 1,488 booths have been set up across the district, where polio protection drops are being given to children aged 0 to 5 years.