Immunisation Drive In Odisha: Mission Indradhanush 4.0 To Cover 12 Dists

Bhubaneswar: The state government has selected 12 districts to be covered initially under the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0 for immunization of women and children.

This was revealed by Director, Family Welfare, Dr Bijaya Panigrahi at a meeting of the State Steering Committee of IMI held on digital mode under chairmanship of chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, here on Tuesday.

Dr Panigrahi said the districts which would be covered by IMI 4.0 as per the composite index assessment are Cuttack, Ganjam, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Koraput, Khordha, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur and Sundargarh.

The vaccination drive would be done in three rounds wherein different doses of various vaccines would be given. The targeted population would be the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated pregnant women and the children of less than 2 years.

The vaccination drive would be conducted in 3 rounds with each round having duration of seven days. While the first round would be from March 7, the second round would be from April 4 and third round from May 2.

The chief secretary directed to focus on coverage of the children who took birth in homes, children of migrating people to nearby towns, nomadic tribes, brick kiln workers, workers on construction sites, urban slums, orphanages, prisons, hard to reach areas, and tribal pockets etc during the drive.

He also directed to strengthen the awareness and mobilization activities at the ground level with active participation of the community leaders, PRI representatives, NGOs, ASHA and Anganwadi workers.

The departments of women and child welfare, school and mass education, panchayati raj and drinking water, scheduled tribe, scheduled caste and minorities development, housing and urban development, labour and ESI, sports and youth affairs, information and public relations should ensure convergence at the ground level as per the micro plans, he said.

It was decided in the meeting that timing of the vaccination on the decided dates would be as per convenience of the community, and the vaccination camps would be within their easy reach.

Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Raj Kumar Sharma said, “As per the reports of National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, Odisha topped the list at national level in full immunisation coverage with 90.5% of full immunization. Generally full immunization includes preventive doses against 12 different kinds of diseases including polio, tuberculosis, jaundice, diphtheria, hooping cough, tetanus, Hib brain fever, pneumonia, measles, rubella, diarrhea, Japanese fever etc”.

As many as 20 districts had achieved above 90% in full immunization and 10 districts below 90%. Sharma added that a composite index including 5 variables was adopted for selecting the districts to be taken up under present IMI 4.0.

Senior officers of the departments concerned participated in the discussion.

The IMI 4.0 was rolled out from March 7 for boosting full immunization coverage of the targeted women and children.