Solan: Vaccination drive for expectant mothers, children underway

Solan, August 7

Health Minister DR Shandil today kick-started the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 for the vaccination of all children aged up to five years as well as expectant mothers.

Three rounds of vaccination would be conducted — one each in August, September and October — under the programme. The first round would be conducted from August 7 to 12, second from September 11 to 16 and third from October 9 to 14, said Shandil

The health authorities are targeting 1,270 children and 212 expectant mothers under the campaign. Vaccines provided include BCG, b-OPV, f-IPV, Penta, PCV, Rota and MR. The key challenges faced in Solan district include a high migration rate, high daily floating population and the assessment of beneficiaries, say health officials.

There are several high risk areas comprising areas with a high number of zero dose children, left-out and dropout children, high risk areas for measles, areas with a low coverage of new vaccines introduced under the Universal Immunisation Programme.

“Accredited social health activists have been trained to carry out the programme for which house-to-house surveys were done and the left-out and dropout beneficiaries were identified. They are being pre-registered on the UWIN portal for online registration for Immunisation of expectant mothers and children and pregnancy outcomes,” said a health official.