Published 12:17 IST, January 13th 2021
Ahead of COVID-19 vaccinations, MoHFW postpones Polio NID drive till further notice
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said that due to unforeseen activities, it has decided to postpone the scheduled Polio NID round till further notice
- India News
- 2 min read
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare announced on Wednesday that the scheduled Polio NID (National Immunisation Day) round from January 17, 2021, has been postponed till further notice due to unforeseen activities.
As per reports, this move was confirmed in a letter dated January 9, the day the government announced that India's COVID-19 vaccination drive would start on January 16.
Polio NID was scheduled to start from Jan 17
On January 8, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had announced that the three-day anti-polio drive would commence from January 17. He said, "We have decided that on January 17, we are going to have our national immunisation days for Polio which will run for two to three days," he said adding the drive covered aspects like identifying and immunising children left out from vaccination. The vaccination is very essential to ensure that the nation maintained overall immunity levels against polio virus."
The exact reason for putting off the drive has not been mentioned. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is ready to start vaccinating from January 16.
India will on January 16 begin the largest COVID-19 vaccination drive in the world, with consignments of the vaccine being shipped from Tuesday onwards to various parts of the country. As per Serum Institute of India's CEO Adar Poonawalla, the Covishield vaccine's first 100 million doses will be sold to the government of India at a cost price of Rs 200, while on the private market the price will be Rs 1000. The government has committed to buy from the Serum Institute a further 4.5 crore doses of Covishield, at a price of Rs 200 per shot plus applicable taxes by April.
(With ANI Inputs)
Updated 12:17 IST, January 13th 2021