The Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation has accepted a proposal to confer the Gates Innovation Award on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the first Gates Vaccine Innovation Award.

The proposal came in the wake of Bihar’s remarkable contribution for effectively strengthening the immunization program, Sanjay Kumar, executive director of the state Health Society, told PTI on Tuesday. The External Affairs Ministry too has given the nod for Kumar to receive the award, he said.

The Bihar chief minister will thus be the first recipient of the Vaccine Innovation Award, introduced globally by the Gates Foundation and carries a cash prize of $250,000.

The foundation last year took the decision to bestow the award on an individual/team that has made the most innovative contribution in vaccination.

The rise in routine immunization played a major role in making Bihar a polio-free state in the country with not a single case of the dreaded disease reported in 2011.