Immunisation coverage crosses 70 per cent mark

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 18

The child immunisation coverage in the country has reportedly gone up from 65 per cent to 70 per cent this year. However, a formal announcement in this regard is yet to be made. The achievement is significant as the average increase between 2009 and 2013 was only around 1 per cent (61 to 65 per cent).

These gains are the result of Mission Indradhanush, Centre’s special vaccination drive launched in April to cover lakhs of un-immunised children across 201 high-focus districts in 28 states.

Out of 270 lakh children born annually in India, the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) fails to reach around 89 lakh. Of these children, around 50 per cent are from the 201 districts that the Health Ministry targeted during the phase one of the mission. The mission seeks to improve child immunisation coverage in the country from 65 per cent in 2013 to 90 per cent in 2020. The goal entails a surge of 5 per cent a year.

The preliminary data for the first phase of Mission Indradhanush shows that the target of 5 per cent improvement for the year has been achieved. The Centre will soon make an official announcement in this regard. The improvement represents significant gains in child survival. Every year 7.48 lakh newborns die, mostly due to diseases preventable through vaccines. Forty per cent of child mortality happens on the first day of birth and 73 per cent in the first week.

Dr Rakesh Kumar, Joint Secretary, Health, today acknowledged the child immunisation gains through the mission. “The first phase of Mission Indradhanush ended on July 14. The validated data shows we have already attained the target of improving child vaccination coverage by 5 per cent, and perhaps exceeded it. India’s child immuisation coverage is set to rise beyond 70 per cent,” he said.

Mission Indradhanush was launched on April 7. It envisaged week-long immunisation drives in target districts starting the seventh of every month. Rolled out with technical help from the WHO and Unicef, the first phase of the programme ensured vaccination of 19 lakh uncovered children. The government needed to vaccinate 13 lakh children to attain the 5 per cent target for this year.

The UIP envisages vaccination of 12-to-24-month-old children against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B. The latest improvements are critical as these represent a wider acceptance for child vaccines. A recent WHO study on unvaccinated children in India had shown that 30 per cent parents were unaware of vaccine benefits while 33 per cent thought vaccines had side-effects.

The gains, coming closer to the September 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goal, will also help India bridge child survival targets.