The Calcutta Municipal Corporation will completely depend on door-to-door visits to give the polio vaccine this year, deciding to do away with camps at strategic locations that were organised till last year, an official of the civic body said on Sunday.

Around 40 per cent of pulse polio doses were administered in the camps, the official said.

The programme to give polio vaccines began on Sunday and will continue through the week. “Camps have been cancelled this year to avoid gatherings. In previous years, after the camps would end, civic health workers used to visit the children who had not been vaccinated in the camps. Those children would be vaccinated at home. But this year all children will be vaccinated at home,” a CMC official..

“This is a challenge for us, but we have to do it,” said an official of the civic health department. “The camps drew a large number of children…. Our experience showed that nearly 40 per cent of all children were vaccinated at camps, which were held on Sundays. Parents preferred to get their children vaccinated on Sundays.”

The official added that it was because of the long queues that the civic authorities decided not to organise the camps this year. “The congregation of so many people would have been a threat to the health of everyone. Our staff, parents and children, everyone would have been exposed to the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.”

The Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme, which started on Sunday, is held usually four times a year in Calcutta, along with the rest of the state.

Thank you

The cops at Charu Market police station were in for a surprise on Tuesday when they got chocolates, thank-you badges and a trophy from a group of visitors Telegraph picture

Around 30 police personnel, including officer-in-charge Mriganka Mohan Das were felicitated for their role in battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The visitors were members of Junior Chamber International (JCI), an NGO and youth organisation. “In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, certain people have emerged as warriors. They have answered the call of duty by risking their safety for serving the society. Not all superheroes wear capes, some wear a police uniform,” said Reshma Narwani of the JCI