Aimed at ensuring that routine immunisation services reach children who have missed vaccine doses or who have dropped out of their vaccination schedule, as well as pregnant women across the country, the Intensified Mission Indradhanush is scheduled to conclude all three rounds on October 14. As on September 30, over 34,69,705 children and 6,55,480 pregnant women had been administered vaccine doses during the first two rounds of the campaign.
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Known as IMI 5.0, the Health Ministry’s flagship immunisation campaign was brought in with a special focus on improving the coverage of vaccination for measles and rubella, aiming to eliminate both infections by 2023. This is the first year that the campaign was conducted across all districts in the country, and was extended to include children up to five years of age; previous campaigns included children up to two years only.
Extensive campaign
Public representatives and social media influencers came forward in large numbers to appeal to the public to visit the nearest vaccination centres and take any missed doses for children and pregnant women in their families and communities, the Ministry said.
“Preparedness assessment for IMI 5.0 was conducted by national monitors between 19-23 July this year and it carried out extensive preparedness assessments across 154 high-priority districts in 27 States/UTs. The findings of the preparedness assessment along with the recommendations were shared by all the States/UTs,” noted the Ministry.
The IMI 5.0 campaign aims to enhance immunisation coverage for all vaccines provided under the Universal Immunization Programme as per the National Immunization Schedule. It was conducted in three rounds —August 7 to 12, September 11 to 16, and October 9 to 14 — which involved three days each month with the inclusion of a routine immunisation day. The U-WIN digital platform was used in pilot mode for routine immunisations.
Four States running late
Except for Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Punjab, all States and Union Territories will conclude all the three rounds of the IMI 5.0 campaign by October 14. “These four States could not start the IMI 5.0 campaign in August, but have concluded the 1st round and are currently conducting the 2nd round. They plan to conduct the 3rd round of IMI 5.0 campaign in the month of November,” the Ministry added.
Since 2014, 11 phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed across the country, with an ongoing 12th phase. Cumulatively, a total of 5.06 crore children and 1.25 crore pregnant women have been vaccinated till date under the campaign.
