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CHENNAI: On the occasion of National Immunisation Day on Sunday, over 170 million children were vaccinated against polio in vaccination booths set up across the country. This has been followed by 5 days of door-to-door immunisation activity.Though the NID is a Government of India initiative, in Chennai groups like the Rotary organised vaccination booths manned by volunteers and located strategically at transit points such as bus stands and railway stations.Members of Rotary International, a partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, joined the fight against the dreaded disease. Deepak Kapur, chair of Rotary International’s India National PolioPlus Committee, said, “In February this year India achieved the status of a non-polio endemic nation. It has to maintain the status for another two years to be certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation. Import of polio from neighbouring countries and the reemergence of the disease are major threats to the campaign. But sustained efforts will help us achieve the goal.”Equipped with lessons from their own countries, foreign Rotarians from the US and Japan added impetus to Indian immunisation efforts. Rotary India PolioPlus also distributed information, education and communication (IEC) materials like banners, whistles, caps and aprons for the NID activity. The Rotary India PolioPlus committee has been actively involved in social mobilisation, and political, bureaucratic and religious advocacy to make immunisation acceptable to all sections of society. Rotary also organises Polio Corrective Surgery and Rehabilitation Camps for polio-affected children.
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