Health campaigns, including those by international agencies, were banned in Assam on Saturday after an anti-blindness programme went awry leaving 16 children dead and thousands of others suffering side-effects.
A World Health Organisation-sponsored Pulse Polio program scheduled for December 2 which targets 4.6 million children in the state, has been deferred indefinitely, Bhumidhar Barman, Assam's health minister said.
The polio prevention campaign was being postponed due to elections to the local council scheduled for December 27, Burman said.
However, health officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities were putting the campaign on hold fearing a poor response from the people following the controversy over the anti-blindness campaign.
Unicef-sponsored Vitamin A campaign among children between 0 to 5 years of age on November 11 ran into trouble after thousands of children complained of illness after they were administered doses of the vitamin.
In the week that followed, at least 16 children died after the intake of the micro-nutrient. Several hundred children were treated in hospitals with stomach ailments and cramps.
Local government authorities seized vitamin samples used in the programme and had them analysed at the Central Drug Testing Laboratory at Kolkata.
Unicef has since been cleared by the laboratory on the quality of the supplies.

"The Drug Testing laboratory in Kolkata has informed us that the supplies of Vitamin A used in the campaign were in perfect condition," Partho Jyoti Gogoi, an Assam health ministry spokesman, said Saturday.
The state government has also instructed educational institutions not to administer a combination vitamin-iron tablet to children until further orders from the health authorities.
The vitamin-iron tablets were distributed free of charge in schools in large parts of Assam as part of a government drive to tackle vitamin deficiency in children.
Faced with mounting public anger, the Assam government earlier this week asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the exact cause of the deaths and illness among the children following the Vitamin A drive.
"The Vitamin A intake may not after all be behind the death and illness among so many children. But, future mass health programs in Assam may not evoke a good response from the people because of the fear element," said S N Thakuria, Assam's director for health programmes. Bureau Report