Nagaland, Tamil Nadu And Assam Launch ‘Mission Indradhanush 5.0’, To Immunise Pregnant Women And Children

Tamil Nadu: In Chennai, the Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Monday (August 7) launched the intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 to immunise pregnant women and children below five years against life-threatening diseases. A fortnight-long enumeration of households in the state from July 15-31 this year revealed that about 72,760 children and 14,180 pregnant women were yet to be vaccinated.

The present initiative would prioritise the “left out” beneficiaries and the details about their vaccination would be uploaded on U-WIN vaccinator portal of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, he said.

During this intensified mission, vaccination against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) i.e. diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections, Japanese encephalitis, rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and measles-rubella would be provided, the Minister said while speaking on the occasion. Minister Subramanian said and added that the target groups have been administered the shots every year,

There is sufficient stock of the vaccines in the state.

Tamil Nadu has been implementing the nationwide vaccination programme since 1985 and under this programme around 10 lakh pregnant mothers and 9.16 lakh infants have been vaccinated annually.

Also Read: Greater Efforts Needed To Get Routine Immunisation Back To Pre-Covid Times: WHO

About 1.72 lakh pregnant mothers besides 6.94 lakh children were given the “missed” doses through 2.98 lakh camps since the Indradhanush programme was launched in 2014, the Minister said.

The IMI 5.0 will be held in three phases: from August 7 -12, September 11 – 16 and October 9 – 14, with each camp lasting for six days, Minister Subramanian said.

Kohima

In Nagaland’s Kohima, the principal director of Health and Family Welfare Vibeituonuo M Sachu launched the programme by administering the first dose to an infant at the Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Kohima district.

During the first round, 209 sessions will be held to immunise 2,064 beneficiaries, including 1,885 children and 179 pregnant women, across Nagaland, State Immunisation Officer Dr Imkongtemsu Longchar told PTI.

The drive aims to vaccinate the children and pregnant women left out during the routine immunisation activities, he said. Ms. Sachu said that IMI 5.0 aims to strengthen routine immunisation under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). A lot of beneficiaries in the first round are those who have missed different vaccines or were left out after the first dose, she said.

Healthcare workers will trace the children and pregnant women who missed immunisation, she said, adding that IMI 5.0 will have three rounds that will be carried out over three months till October.

Also Read: WHO Recommends Groundbreaking Malaria Vaccine For Children At Risk

With the immunisation rate in Nagaland being at 58 per cent, which is lesser than the national average, she appealed to civil society organisations and faith-based groups to support the department to ensure that no children or pregnant women are left unimmunised or half-immunised. Ms. Sachu said,

We want to ensure that no children should suffer due to vaccine-preventive diseases.

While the first round will continue till August 12, the second round will be held from September 11 to 16 and the third round from October 9 to 14.

Assam

Assam Health and Family Welfare Minister Keshab Mahanta on Saturday (August 5) said that Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 to vaccinate children will start on August 7 and will continue till October 14. Minister Keshab Mahanta said,

There will be three rounds of six days each per month. The first round will be from August 7 to 12, the second round will be from September 11 to 16 and the third round will be conducted from October 9 to 14.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will launch the program on August 7 at Borjuri, Bokakhat of Golaghat district where the state Health Minister will also be present.

Health Minister Mahanta said that the mission Indradhanush 5.0 will focus on reaching unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children aged between 0 to 5 years, ensuring that every child receives life-saving vaccines.

This initiative also aims to achieve 95 per cent vaccination coverage of two doses of Measles and Rubella containing Vaccine (MRCV) in every district across the state with a focus on the elimination of measles and rubella (MR), two highly contagious and vaccine-preventable diseases.

The drive will also cover any left-out pregnant women with Td vaccine. Minister Mahanta added,

Mission Indrdhanush is also an opportunity to roll out the U-WIN platform throughout the state and country for digitalization of paper-based recording and reporting of immunisation in line with the success and experience of the CO-WIN platform which was used during the Covid-19 vaccination.

Also Read: India Among Top Countries With Maximum Childhood Immunisation Coverage: World Health Organization 

Mission Indradhanush will be conducted across all the districts under the leadership and supervision of the District Commissioners and will be implemented by the district establishment of the Health and Family Welfare Department with the active support of other stakeholder departments and UN agencies.

Minister Mahanta said that the aim is to cover approximately one lakh left out, dropout children between 0-5 years of age and pregnant women. New beneficiaries would be added over and above the target set for the first sound in the subsequent 2nd and 3rd rounds in the months of September and October respectively. He added,

During Mission Indradhanush special focussed areas would be Tea Gardens, Char areas, forest areas, hilly areas, migratory population and areas that experience floods frequently.

The Health Minister informed that India has made significant strides in vaccination coverage in 2022, as revealed in the latest WHO and UNICEF estimates of national immunisation coverage (WUENIC) report. He added,

The country successfully reduced the number of zero-dose children from 2.7 million in 2021 to 1.1 million in 2022.

This also reflects Assam’s achievement in having vaccine confidence amongst its people with 85 per cent of full immunisation coverage, and the Government’s unwavering commitment to fight against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Under Universal Immunisation Program, the Government of Assam continues to conduct regular immunisation sessions to provide vaccines against 12 serious childhood vaccine-preventable diseases. The Health Minister added,

Adolescents and Pregnant women also receive two doses of tetanus-diphtheria vaccine under the program.

The vaccines are provided free of cost across the state. Annually more than 3,00,000 vaccination sessions are held as health facilities and outreach sessions to provide vaccination to children up to 0-5 years and pregnant women.

Also Read: Childhood Vaccination Rates Begin To Recover Post-Pandemic: United Nations

The Assam Health Minister appealed to the public and social influencers to support and assist government efforts on IMI 5.0 in achieving full immunisation coverage in their respective districts.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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