Mangaluru: The first phase of polio vaccination this year will be held on January 17 across Karnataka. Arrangements have been made to vaccinate about 74.25 lakh children below five years of age, Health Minister UT Khader informed.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the drive on January 17 in Bengaluru.

Addressing a press meet at Circuit House on Friday January 15, Khader said that though India has been declared as a polio-free country, the neighbouring
Pakistan and Afghanistan are still laced with polio. Hence, it is necessary to administer polio drops to children to ensure the virus does not spread through air.

Parents must make sure that their kids are administered polio drops every year until the age of five, he asserted, adding there are no side effects to the vaccine.

Giving out details, Khader informed that 32,617 booths will be setup. As many as 51,732 teams comprising 1,03,464 vaccinators have been formed. A total of 6,522 supervisors have been appointed. 1,205 mobile and 1,736 transit teams will be on duty, across the state.

In Dakshina Kannada alone, about 1,68,947 children are expected to be administered polio drops in 921 booths. As many as 3,228 vaccinators with 192 supervisors have been appointed for the purpose. There will be 28 transit teams and eight mobile units, Khader said.

Endosulfan compensation reached to 95 per cent beneficiaries

Khader said that there are about 2,500 endosulfan victims in the district and that compensation has been reached out to 95 per cent victims. He said that the remaining 5 per cent victims were left out due to technical glitches adding compensation will soon reach them. He urged the public to bring any such missing cases to the notice of the Health Department.