States/Union Territories (UTs) have rolled out Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 to cover children and pregnant women who missed the routine immunisation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Ministry said in its release issued on Tuesday, adding that more than 29,000 children and 5,000 pregnant women were covered on Day 1.
“Various States and UTs have started implementation of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0, a campaign aimed to reach those children and pregnant women who have been missed out or been left out of the Routine Immunisation Programme. This is aimed to accelerate the full immunisation of children and pregnant women through a mission mode intervention. The first phase has been rolled out from 22nd Feb. for 15 days,” it said.
The campaign is scheduled to have two rounds of immunisation lasting 15 days (excluding routine immunisation and holidays). It is being conducted in pre-identified 250 districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs in the country. Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during the pandemic. As per the guidelines released for IMI 3.0, the districts have been classified to reflect 313 low risk; 152 medium risk; and 250 high risk districts.
The Ministry said that adherence to COVID-Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) during the immunisation activities has been strongly emphasised. States have been asked to follow “staggered approach” to avoid crowding at the session sites and even plan break-up sessions if a staggered approach is not effective to avoid crowding. The sessions are also planned in such a way that not more than 10 beneficiaries are present at the session site at one given point in time.
