India To Inoculate All Afghanistan Returnees With Free Polio Vaccine

New Delhi: The Indian government has decided to administer free polio vaccine to all returnees from Afghanistan as a preventive measure.

“We have decided to vaccinate Afghanistan returnees with free Polio Vaccine – OPV & fIPV, as a preventive measure against Wild Polio Virus. Congratulations to the health team for their efforts to ensure public health,” Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted on Sunday along with an image of the vaccination drive, which is already underway at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport.

The Centre pledged to get back all Indians back from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the war-torn country. An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft brought back 168 people – mostly Indians and around 20 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus — from Kabul and landed at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad on Sunday.

Earlier, a special Air India flight carrying 87 Indians landed in Delhi.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that conflict in the country has left countless people vulnerable to hunger and illnesses.

It estimated that around half of Afghanistan’s population, including over 4 million women and 10 million children — desperately need humanitarian assistance.