Rajasthan to cover 4 lakh children under immunisation plan

Rajasthan will immunise four lakh children from the vulnerable sections of society under Mission Indradhanush, launched nationally on April 7.

The immunisation campaign will focus on unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children below the age of two.

Rajasthan’s immunisation coverage is 73 per cent and the government has an ambitious target of 90 per cent by 2020. Increased coverage will help in reducing child and maternal mortality.

The programme provides immunisation against seven life-threatening diseases — diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.

In addition, vaccination against Haemophilus influenza type B and Japanese encephalitis will be provided in select districts. Catch-up campaigns will also be organised to increase the coverage annually by five per cent.

The campaign is part of the Universal Immunisation Programme by 2020 and is being implemented under the National Health Mission across the country. As many as 201 special-focus districts have been identified under the special campaign and within these, 400,000 vulnerable sites will get special attention.

The nine focus districts from Rajasthan are Alwar, Tonk, Barmer, Bundi, Dhaulpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Karauli and Swai Madhopur where the number of unvaccinated children is estimated to be 1.60 lakh.