Protest started against giving polio drops, took help from WHO and UNICEF

The Health Department is facing opposition at many places during the polio campaign. In the areas where protests are taking place, the work of giving polio drops to the people is being done through WHO and UNICEF officials. It has been a decade since the country became polio free, but as a precaution, on the instructions of WHO, a campaign is still being run to protect children from polio.

In this series, a campaign to administer polio drops was started in Ghaziabad district from last Sunday. After giving polio drops to children at health centers on the first day, health workers are going door-to-door to give polio drops to children aged zero to five years. According to health officials, there is opposition in some areas of the district against giving polio drops to children.

These also include some villages of Loni, Bhojpur, Dasna, Vijaynagar, Khekra Shaheed Nagar, Modinagar and Muradnagar. In some areas, people agree to give polio drops to children only after persuasion by health workers, but in some areas the department has to take cooperation from WHO and UNICEF officials.

District Immunization Officer Dr. Neeraj Aggarwal said that till now more than five lakh children have been given polio drops. The government has set a target of administering polio drops to 7.5 lakh children. Children who will be left out of drinking polio drops will be given the drops by running a special campaign on the coming Sunday. At the same time, mild protests are being held in some areas, where work is being done to convince the people and give drops to the children.