The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has changed the timing of the Fractional Dose of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (fIPV) against polio.

According to the new directive, the first dose of polio will be administered to the newborns when they turn 14 weeks old and the second dose when they turn nine months.

Dr Sanjay Kumar Thakur, spokesperson for MoHP, informed that the time of fIPV administration has been updated at the advice of the experts.

Earlier, children below one year old were provided with two doses of vaccines at six weeks and 14 weeks.

Meanwhile, Thakur said that if children under one year of age are not yet vaccinated, then they can be vaccinated within five years, with a four-month gap between the two vaccine dosages.