Down 146;n out? 15 polio cases in UP

Just when the Government thought the polio virus is under control, Uttar Pradesh is posing a problem. Out of the 28 cases reported so far, 1...

Just when the Government thought the polio virus is under control, Uttar Pradesh is posing a problem. Out of the 28 cases reported so far, 15 are from the state. The reason, officials say, is not the lack of reach but poor routine immunisation.

According to officials in the Health Ministry, the worst-affected districts are Badaun with seven cases and Moradabad with five. 8216;8216;The reasons are the same as the ones last year 8212; a certain section of society not willing to go for polio immunisation,8217;8217; said an official in the ministry.

According to the figures, out of the 15 cases in the state, only four are Hindus while the rest are Muslims. 8216;8216;More worrisome is the fact that the cases are not sporadic but concentrated in particular areas making transmission easy,8217;8217; the official added.

What is surprising is that in most of the cases, the children had received a minimum of 4 doses of vaccine, some had even got around 10-12 doses. 8216;8216;The problem is that only three of these children had received the routine immunisation, at birth and as a follow up. So, despite the fact that they got immunisation during the rounds, their immunity levels are very low,8217;8217; said an official.

According to UNICEF, when missed, the routine immunisation has a huge impact. 8216;8216;If the zero dose, which is given in the first 15 days is missed it has a huge impact on immunisation,8217;8217; said a UNICEF official.

Bihar 8212; according to an official 8212; does not pose a problem as the cases are scattered in different areas.

Even in these cases, it is routine immunisation which is causing the problem. 8216;8216;The state governments think that polio rounds are to be done efficiently. In this process, the routine immunisation suffers,8217;8217; said the official.

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The other cases reported so far are one each from Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.