Health Ministry postpones Polio National Immunisation Day

New Delhi: The National Immunisation Day (NID) which was scheduled to be held on February 3 has been postponed to another date as per the recently released statement of the Ministry of Health.

The new date of National Immunisation Day will be announced shortly.

In a letter issued on January 18, the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare barring Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Kerela, has notified that the Polio National Immunization Day will be postponed because of some unavoidable circumstances. In the letter, it had been mentioned that the rescheduled date for the National Immunisation day will be informed soon.

Read Also: No shortage of Oral ,Inactivated Polio Vaccines in India

“To ensure availability of safe and quality vaccine for our children during NID, the testing of bOPV has been made more stringent and the same will be dispatched to states for public use after the clearance from National Testing Laboratory for each batch. Polio NID will be held soon,” mentions the statement.

The Ministry informed that more stringent testing of the vaccination will be carried out. This will be dispatched to states for public use only after getting clearance from the national testing laboratory for each batch.

The ministry added that as per global guidelines, India has eliminated polio and also introduced Inactive Polio Vaccine (IPV) which is a universal immunisation program.

Moreover, on the issue of shortage of IPV and funds its procurement for Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) in India, the Ministry states, “There is no shortage of oral polio vaccines (OPV) and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in the country.”

The Ministry added that due to steep hike in IPV price, India approached Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI) for partial support as India is also a Gavi eligible country and the same has been agreed to by the Gavi Board.

Read Also: Oral polio vaccine samples found adulterated: Health Minister