The third round of Indradhanush to achieve full immunisation coverage of all eligible children and pregnant women was launched in Kalaburagi district.
This aims to cover 1,997 pregnant women and 8,458 children below the age of two years, who were either partially or not covered under the mandatory immunisation programme so far.
Municipal Administration Minister Qamarul Islam, who launched the third round of Indradhanush at Manikeshwari Nagar slum in Kalaburagi on Monday, called upon the people to make full use of the immunisation programme which would give full protection against diseases and bring down the infant and maternal mortality rates.
He said in the first and second rounds of the Indradhanush programme, as many as 16,282 eligible children and 4,697 pregnant women were provided full immunisation coverage.
The Union government decided to implement the programme with a high focus on districts in the country where nearly 50 per cent of the pregnant women and eligible children were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. In Karnataka, the programme is being implemented in Ballari, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur, Yadgir and Bengaluru (Urban) districts. Indradhanush, representing seven colours, would cover seven childhood diseases (providing seven antigens/vaccines to the during the drive).
Each round under the programme would run for seven days in a month from April to July.
