The Union Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has said the Government has decided to introduce Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) in nine districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the disease was endemic, to check the recurring cases of polio in the country.

The IPV vaccines would be introduced in these two states first as they were the "problem" states as far as polio was concerned, alongside the ongoing countrywide oral immunization programme to eradicate the disease.

"The IPV vaccine would be introduced in the UP and Bihar districts in a bid to control the spread of the disease," Ramadoss said.

Out of the 499 polio cases reported 480 were from UP and Bihar which represented 35% of the cases reported worldwide. Despite a high profile vaccination drive and getting the largest allocation among all central schemes, the country has witnessed recurring cases of polio. "This is the biggest health programme in the world," he said.

A fresh inflow of funds from Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ foundation and WHO have helped the vaccine’s introduction become a reality. Last year, of the total reported cases of 874, over 90% of them were from UP and Bihar. Ramadoss said the P1 strain, considered to be the most dangerous strain, was not reported in UP for over 15 months.

A senior ministry official said, "The ministry is focusing on these two problem states first to check polio transmission in other parts of the country." He added that the virus spread in other states because of immigration from UP and Bihar.