Tamil Nadu to have special polio drive for migrants’ children

With the children of migrants exposed to the risk of contracting polio, the Tamil Nadu government Friday announced it would conduct special polio campaign for this section Sunday.

In a statement issued here, the government said the state is free from polio since March 2004 owing to the continuous Pulse Polio campaigns conducted every year besides routine immunisation.

However, Tamil Nadu is at risk of getting the virus again from other states through migrant population, whose inflow is on rise every year.

Mostly, these migrant children are more susceptible to have polio infection because of their constant movement from one place to another, without proper immunisation coverage, the state said, adding that in order to develop immunity in these migrant children against polio infection and also prevent virus transmission, the special polio campaign will be held Dec 11.

About 35,000 migrant children are expected to be benefited by this special polio round.