हिंदी
Vaccination of Children
March 15th
The full immunization coverage stands at 92.8% as per HMIS data from April 2019 to March 2020. Also still there are pockets where children remain deprived of completing the doses of vaccination, on account of various reasons, such as: (i) lack of awareness of benefit of Immunization, (ii) apprehensions of Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI), (iii) Child travelling, (iv) refusal for vaccination and (v) operational gaps. Special vaccination drives like Mission Indradhanush, Intensified Mission Indradhanush, Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan, Extended GSA have been done to reach the left out and drop out children from vaccination. Also to mitigate low immunization coverage, strategic interventions like advocacy, social mobilization, community engagement, inter personal communication at family level and media engagement are undertaken. The targeted steps being taken by the Government to spread awareness about the immunization in children across the country are:
- Awareness generation through electronic and print media like radio spots, television, poster, hoardings etc.
- Inter personal communication by front line health workers like Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs)
- Utilising social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and print media platforms.
- Social mobilization by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and other community workers. The workers are incentivised for same.
The activities are undertaken by Government bodies in coordination with Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)
Under Mission Indradhnaush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) drives, specific immunization sessions are done in pockets with low immunization coverage and hard to reach areas where the proportion of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children is highest. The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh.Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
