Bengal to take religious leaders' help for polio vaccination

Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) In a bid to make sure that each and every child of the state ias administered polio vaccine, the West Bengal government Saturday said it will take help of religious leaders to persuade the families who are still resisting the vaccine.

"We will take the help of religious leaders and madrasas to persuade the families/ parents to immunize their children with the polio vaccine," said Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharjee.

She said that on April 20, announcements were made at 400 mosques in the state to oversee that all children below the age of five have taken the polio vaccine.

Bhattacharjee added that nearly 95 percent of the children in the state have taken the polio vaccine. She added that the state government will send letter to each and every household in order to convince them to bring their kids to the polio booth.

India was taken off the list of polio endemic countries by the World Health Organisation (WHO), after no cases of polio was recorded in the country in last one year as on Feb 25, 2012