Hyderabad ramps up for polio booster campaign with innovative needle-free injections and community focus

Hyderabad’s health authorities prepare for an extensive polio booster drive, utilising modern needle-free injections and strengthened community outreach to protect children aged four months to 10 years amid regional eradication efforts.

Hyderabad’s district health authorities have stepped up preparations for an upcoming polio booster dose campaign, using a briefing session at the District Health Office to rally health workers, paediatricians and international partners behind the drive. According to UrduPoint, the meeting brought together representatives of the World Health Organisation, district health officials and doctors from across the city, with the booster campaign set for August 20 to 30 and aimed at children aged four months to 10 years.

Officials told the session that more than 300 vaccination teams will be sent across 70 union councils in Hyderabad district to reach about 250,000 children. The district health office said the booster will be delivered with a needle-free jet injector, which it described as a modern alternative to conventional syringes. The campaign will also sit alongside routine immunisation and polio surveillance work, while health staff were urged to intensify public awareness efforts before the drive begins.

District Health Officer Dr Pir Ghulam Hussain said Hyderabad’s negative environmental polio samples showed that health teams were making progress, but warned that eradication still depended on parents, clinicians and wider community support. He asked paediatricians to encourage families to vaccinate every eligible child and urged parents to make use of the Polio Helpline 1166 if they needed information or assistance. The same session also folded in dengue prevention advice, with officials calling for cleaner homes, the removal of stagnant water and stronger overall hygiene.

The campaign comes as Sindh districts continue to sharpen their anti-polio planning. In neighbouring Shaheed Benazirabad, authorities have already named district crisis communication focal persons to help counter rumours and improve information flow during an August booster campaign, while in Sukkur officials recently reviewed arrangements for an IPV booster drive in the Kacha areas. Hyderabad’s preparations also follow a broader pattern of intensive polio work in the region, including Telangana’s recent mass Pulse Polio effort, which authorities said reached more children than initially targeted through booth-based vaccination and house-to-house follow-up.