Thiruvananthapuram | As many as 19.8 lakh children below the age of five will be administered polio vaccine drops across Kerala on Sunday as part of the nationwide Pulse Polio Immunisation programme, state Health Minister K Muraleedharan said on Saturday.

The minister said all arrangements for the June 28 immunisation drive have been completed and urged parents and guardians to ensure that every child below five years receives a dose of the oral polio vaccine.

The state-level inauguration will be held at the Thycaud Mother and Child Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram at 8 am on Sunday, he said in a statement.

The event, scheduled to be inaugurated by the Health Minister, would be chaired by Transport Minister C P John.

MP Shashi Tharoor, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor V V Rajesh and other dignitaries will attend, it said.

A total of 19,80,224 children are expected to receive the vaccine through 22,288 booths set up across the state. As many as 46,663 trained volunteers have been deployed for the campaign.

The booths have been set up at government hospitals, health centres, family health centres, urban health centres, anganwadis, private hospitals, libraries, schools and buildings of voluntary organisations.

Apart from the regular booths, 539 transit booths, 283 mobile booths and nine booths at festival and fair venues have also been set up.

Transit booths will function at railway stations, bus stands and boat jetties, while mobile booths will cover migrant workers' settlements, remote areas, festival venues, marriage halls and other public places.

The government has also made arrangements for vaccine storage and transportation, including ice-lined refrigerators (ILRs), deep freezers, cold boxes and vaccine carriers.

Children who miss the vaccination on Sunday will be covered through house-to-house visits by health workers on June 29 and 30, it said.

Besides health department staff, ASHA workers, anganwadi workers and Kudumbashree members will take part in the campaign as volunteers.

The immunisation drive is being coordinated by the Health Department with the support of Arogyakeralam, the Local Self Government Department, the Women and Child Development Department, the General Education Department, Kudumbashree Mission, the Literacy Mission and voluntary organisations, including Rotary International, the statement added.