Govt Postpones Polio Drive To Jan 31 In View Of COVID Vaccine Rollout

New Delhi: The Centre has rescheduled the anti-polio drive to January 31 in view of the nationwide COVID vaccine rollout on January 16. The Polio National Immunisation Day, which was earlier scheduled for January 17, has been deferred to “ensure that Covid management and vaccination services, as well as non-Covid essential health services, proceed in tandem without adversely impacting each other”, the Union Ministry of Health and Welfare was quoted as saying by The Indian Express (TIE).

“The massive countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive will be rolled out by Hon’ble Prime Minister from 16th January, 2021. This would be world’s largest immunisation exercise. Therefore, it has been decided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in consultation with the office of the Hon’ble President of India to reschedule the Polio vaccination day, also known as the National Immunisation Day (NID) or “Polio Ravivar” to 31th January 2021 (Sunday),” the ministry said.

The ministry said the president will launch the Polio National Immunisation Day on January 30 by administering polio drops to children at the Rashtrapati Bhawan at 11.45 am.