India eradicated polio.
A disease that once paralysed thousands of children every year… gone.
Not by accident. By vaccines.
Now doctors in Tambaram are asking one bold question:
What if we could do the same to cervical cancer?
Over 400 doctors, healthcare workers and citizens marched through Tambaram on Saturday.
Not for a protest. For a vaccine.
The Kanchipuram Obstetric and Gynaecological Society (KOGS), backed by the IMA Tambaram branch, flagged off an awareness rally for the HPV vaccine — targeted at girls under 14.
Leading the charge from the front: Asian medal-winning sprinter Gayathri Govindaraj, who literally flagged off the run.
KOGS President Dr. Umaiyal Murugesan didn't mince words.
"Just as polio was eradicated through vaccination, cervical cancer can also be significantly prevented with timely HPV vaccination."
That's not hype. That's math.
Here's why this matters in India 👇
This rally isn't happening in a vacuum.
In February, PM Modi launched India's first nationwide HPV vaccination programme from Ajmer.
The target: 1.15 crore adolescent girls, free of cost, rolled out through schools.
It's the biggest cervical cancer prevention push the country has ever attempted.
And grassroots rallies like Tambaram's? They're the engine that makes it actually work.
For decades, cancer felt like fate. Random. Cruel. Unfightable.
HPV flipped that script.
It's one of the only cancers in the world with a vaccine that can stop it before it starts.
Two shots. A childhood window. A lifetime of protection.
Polio took decades of relentless campaigning, door-to-door drops, and public trust.
Cervical cancer can follow the same playbook.
But only if parents say yes.
Only if schools open their gates.
Only if doctors keep marching — like they did in Tambaram.
A generation of Indian girls could grow up never fearing this disease.
That's not a dream. That's a decision.
That's all for now!
