Mission Indradhanush improved child vaccination rates in India: Study

NEW DELHI: An estimated 25.5 million children across India were vaccinated under India's Mission Indradhanush (MI) child vaccination campaign during March 2015-July 2017, according to a study.

In December 2014, the Government of India launched MI, with the objective of increasing full immunisation coverage.

MI was a periodic intensification of the routine immunisation (PIRI) programme, which targeted unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children by allocating more resources to underserved areas.

The programme was implemented in 528 districts — with low initial full immunisation coverage and high dropout rates — in four phases during March 2015-July 2017.

Researchers at the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP) in Washington, the US, found that the full immunisation rate was 27 per cent higher among children under 2 years residing in districts that received the campaign during both phase 1 and 2 (intervention group) as compared with those residing elsewhere (control group).

The rate of receiving all vaccines at recommended ages was 8 per cent higher in the intervention group. Receiving doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) birth dose, OPV dose 1 (OPV1), OPV2, OPV3, BCG, and hepatitis B birth dose vaccines were 9 per cent, 9 per cent, 11 per cent, 16 per cent, 5 per cent, and 19 per cent higher in the intervention group than the control group, respectively. (IANS)

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