President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday launched the Pulse Polio programme for 2016 by administering polio drops to children under five years of age at Rahstrapati Bhawan on the eve of the National Immunization Day.<br/><br/>Under the programme, around 17.4 crore children across the country will be administered polio drops tomorrow.<br/><br/>Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister J P Nadda said Polio-free status for five years is a treasure for the country.<br/><br/>He said, as polio is now endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the world is at last stage of polio eradication.<br/><br/>Mr Nadda said, to mitigate the risk of importation, the immunity against polio infection is maintained through National and Sub National Polio rounds along with sustained high quality polio surveillance.<br/><br/>He said, to provide double protection to the children, the government has introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine into its routine immunization program along with oral polio vaccine.<br/><br/>Mr Nadda also said, government is planning to switch to bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine from its present trivalent version in some months.