Pulse Polio drive: State exceeds target with 103% coverage

The State has exceeded its target in the four-day Pulse Polio campaign that concluded on December 25, achieving 103% coverage of children in the age group of 0 to 5. A total of 64,25,399 children were administered polio drops against a target of 62,40,114, according to official data. The campaign, which began on December 21, was conducted in a single round using the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV). The vaccination was carried out at booths on December 21, followed by door-to-door visits over the next three days to ensure that no child was missed. While 96% of the target group was covered during the booth-level drive, the remaining children were reached during house-to-house visits. Under the routine immunisation programme, every child is entitled to five doses of oral polio vaccine and three doses of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). Kodagu tops coverage Kodagu district recorded the highest coverage at 121%, followed by Bengaluru Rural (112%) and Chikkamagaluru (111%). Uttara Kannada and Mandya districts reported 109% coverage each, while Udupi and Chitradurga recorded 106% each. Shivamogga reported the lowest coverage at 98%. Focus on high-risk areas Minister for Health Dinesh Gundu Rao said the Health Department had systematically organised the campaign, reaching families in remote, hilly, and hard-to-access regions of the State. He said special focus was placed on high-risk and hard-to-reach areas, including villages in forest and hilly regions, brick kilns, migrant settlements, urban slums, farmhouses, and transit points such as railway stations, metro stations, airports, and seaports. India is a polio-free country, and sustaining that status is a collective responsibility, the Minister said. The national campaign is being conducted as a precautionary measure to guard against the risk of importation, as polio cases continue to be reported from neighbouring countries. In 2025, Pakistan reported 51 cases and Afghanistan 10 cases of wild poliovirus. For the campaign, the Health Department set up 33,258 booths, supported by 1,030 mobile teams and 2,096 transit teams. A total of 1,13,115 vaccinators and 7,322 supervisors were deployed. Published - December 26, 2025 07:13 pm IST

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