The fourth phase of Mission Indradhanush began in Malappuram on Monday with the objective of achieving total immunisation cover for the district. All children below the age of two who are unimmunised or partially immunised are being covered under the special drive.
Two years of fighting COVID-19 had taken the focus off the critical immunisation procedure in the district. District Medical Officer R. Renuka said the department was hopeful of addressing that failure in three months. “We will be dedicating seven days every month to reach out to the unimmunised and partially immunised children in the district. Within three months, we hope to cover the entire missing population,” said Dr. Renuka.
As many as 10,496 children below two years of age have been identified as either unimmunised or partially immunised in the district. As many as 354 unimmunised pregnant women will also be covered under the drive.
The Mission was launched in 2014 by the Union government as an intensive drive to vaccinate all unimmunised and partially immunised children as well as pregnant women under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
The special vaccination drive in different phases had aimed at achieving total immunisation by 2020. However, the advent of COVID-19 upset the last phase of the programme.
“Although we suffered a jolt in our immunisation programme because of COVID-19, we don’t think the lag is too big to be addressed. We had already made headway in immunisation in the district. We hope to cover the remaining kids during this phase,” said Dr. Renuka.
As many as 546 immunisation centres were prepared for the final drive, aiming to reach out to children with vaccines against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, tuberculosis, polio, hepatitis B, and measles.
Though Malappuram had witnessed stiff resistance against immunisation, the scenario has changed considerably in recent years. “Now the resistance is minimal in Malappuram. We could convince large sections of people about the necessity of being immunised,” said Dr. Renuka.
Malappuram and Kasaragod were included in Mission Indradhanush as they had registered below 90% immunisation in 2014. Seven per cent of Malappuram’s children below five years of age were unimmunised in 2014. Malappuram had more than 80% of the State’s total unimmunised children and about 70% of the State’s partially immunised children in 2014.
“The achievement we made in Malappuram is commendable. Today we have achieved 97% immunisation. That’s great by any standard,” said Dr. Renuka.
