The pulse polio immunisation drive in the State, part of a nationwide campaign to eliminate polio by disrupting the transmission of wild polio virus, will be held on Sunday(October 12, 2025).

An additional dose of oral polio vaccine will be administered to 21,11,010 children below the age of five years in the State on Sunday.

Health Minister Veena George will inaugurate the drive at Kozhenchery Government High School in Pathanamthitta district.

The Health department will be readying special booths in all public places and health-care centres for administering the vaccine. A total of 22,383 booths, including transit and mobile ones, are being planned. The department has also arranged 44,766 volunteers to man these booths.

The booths being set up in schools, anganwadis, reading rooms, and government and private hospitals will function from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. However, the transit booths being planned at bus stands, railway stations, airports, and boat landing centres will function till 8 p.m.

The mobile booths being planned around migrant labour camps and tourist centres will function on October 13 and 14 also and administer the vaccine to any children who may have been missed on Sunday.

Home visits

The Health department has planned for mop-up rounds and all children who might miss being vaccinated on October 12 will be administered the vaccine by health workers through home visits.

Polio cases due to wild polio virus have not been reported in Kerala since 2,000 and in India after 2011. Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared India polio-free in 2014, the threat of a resurgence of polio remains, as wild polio virus continues to circulate in the neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ms. George appealed to all parents to ensure that children below five years are administered the oral polio vaccine on Sunday without fail.