Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has declared that the Government is on track to achieve the goal of Universal Immunization of children. The Minister declared that presently 90 per cent of children are being given free immunization. He was interacting with the press New Delhi in the run-up to the government’s celebration of the Pulse Polio Immunization Programme’s Silver Jubilee. The celebrations would be held on the 31st of this month.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said that, in the early 1990s, India saw over 2 lakh polio cases annually, but after the launch of polio eradication programme in 1994, India attained polio-free status in 20 years, this he said was possibly due to consented efforts of the government, civil society, health workers, international partners and millions of volunteers.