A volunteer, right, administers polio vaccine to a boy as his mother, left, looks on during a polio eradication drive, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, April 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)

The vaccinations are part of a three-phase campaign to eliminate polio from Bangladesh, S.M. Golam Kibria, a spokesman for the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said Saturday.

In the first and second rounds of vaccinations, held April 16 and May 13 respectively, more than 20 million children were immunized, Kibria said. Bangladesh has a population of 144 million.

But on Sunday, the government is expected to reach their target of 24 million children, he said.

The children are to visit about 120,000 centers across the country to receive follow up drops, he said.

The children also will be given Vitamin A and de-worming tablets on Sunday, he said.

The government started the program with the help of the Global Polio Eradication Campaign - a partnership among UNICEF, Rotary International, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the ministry.

UNICEF and WHO helped Bangladesh conduct extensive polio vaccination programs in 1995-2004, and the country's last case was thought to have occurred in August 2000.

But the country's efforts to be declared polio-free were thwarted when 9-year-old Rahima Akhter was recently paralyzed by the P1 polio virus in the eastern district of Chandpur. It was not clear how she was affected, but the same P1 virus has also been found in parts of neighboring India.

Polio spreads when unvaccinated people come into contact with the feces of those with the virus, often through water.

The virus invades the nervous system and can cause permanent paralysis within hours. It also can be fatal in some cases.

About 1,880 people were sickened by polio worldwide last year, down from more than 350,000 before 1988, when WHO launched a global anti-polio campaign, according to the agency.

Global Polio Eradication Initiative
The goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is to ensure that no child will ever again know the crippling effects of polio. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is the largest public health initiative the world has ever known.
http://www.polioeradication.org/

Poliomyelitis in Bangladesh: 16 March 2006
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported one case of polio, the first reported case of polio in Bangladesh since August 2000. In response, nation-wide polio immunization campaign kicked-off. (From WHO: The World Health Organization)
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_03_16/en/

Kid's Health.org: Polio
learn more about the contagious, historically devastating disease
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html

Rotary International
In 1985, Rotary launched the PolioPlus program to protect children worldwide from the cruel and fatal consequences of polio. In 1988, the World Health Assembly challenged the world to eradicate polio.
http://www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/

Jonas Salk was only 45 when he discovered the polio vaccine in 1955. Learn more about this amazing hero!
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=j_salk