The national polio immunisation programme, as part of which children up to the age of five years are administered polio drops, has been rescheduled to January 31.

National Immunisation Day, commonly known as pulse polio immunisation programme, was earlier scheduled for January 17 across India.

“The massive countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive will be rolled out by the Prime Minister from January 16. This would be the world’s largest immunisation exercise. Therefore, it has been decided by the ministry of health in consultation with the office of the President of India to reschedule the polio vaccination day, also known as National Immunisation Day (NID) or ‘Polio Ravivar’ to 31st January,” the Union health ministry said in a statement.

The President will launch the polio vaccination drive on January 30 by administering drops to some children at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 11.45am, the ministry said.

“The decision is in keeping with the stated policy of the health ministry to ensure that Covid management and vaccination services as well as non-Covid essential health services proceed in tandem without adversely impacting each other,” it stated.