DIMAPUR, AUGUST 5 (MExN): Mission Indradhanush (MI) 5.0, a periodic immunization intensification drive of the Government of India launched in December 2014, is set to being in Nagaland on August 7. The drive will include 3 rounds (Round 1: August 7-12, Round 2: September 11-16 and Round 3: October 9-14), informed a press release from the Nagaland Directorate of Health and Family Welfare.
The objective of IMI 5.0 is to identify all children up to 5 years for missed doses, register them on U-WIN and vaccinate them in specially planned IMI sessions. The IMI 5.0 will cover all districts of the country; and target all children up to 5 years of age and pregnant women who have missed any of their due doses. Headcount surveys will be conducted for all the districts across the nation. There will be flexible session timings to ensure a better turn out of beneficiaries.
The U-WIN digital portal for data recording and reporting will be the database for all the states, registration and vaccination status on real time basis, individualized tracking of beneficiaries, booking of appointments and digital vaccination certificates.
For Round 1 of IMI, the State has created 209 IMI sessions with updated child target of 1155 (0-2 years), 730 (2-5 years) and 179 pregnant women. These are beneficiaries who are unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant mothers who did not take up timely immunization schedule.
If some beneficiaries are missed in the headcount, there is the option for onsite registration for which an ID card will be required (Aadhaar card, PAN card, passport, driving license, service card, ration card or any government approved ID card).
The Health Department affirmed that Nagaland along with rest of India is committed to eliminating Measles and Rubella (MR) by 2023 by achieving at least 95% vaccination coverage and so IMI 5.0 will provide a big opportunity to help achieve and push towards the goal for MR Elimination too.
It also noted the challenge of high dropout rates. Drop outs are those beneficiaries who are partially vaccinated and they fail to complete the adequate dose of immunization schedule for full protection. According to NFHS-5, the dropout rate for OPV1-OPV3 showed the highest dropout in Nagaland (23.8%), followed by Manipur (20.7%). The highest dropout rate for Penta 1-Penta 3 was observed in Nagaland (15.0%) and Manipur (12.9%), followed by Kerala (11.0%) and Uttar Pradesh (11.05%) (OPV and Penta vaccines are given in three doses at 6 weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks respectively)
Advocacy and awareness is one of the key areas for which support has to be mobilized to create demand generation of services, the Health Department said. It stressed that the community needs to know the importance of immunizing the child at the right age to ensure that the child receives full protection. The vaccines are available free of cost at all Government health facilities and every unvaccinated or partially vaccinated child is at risk of life-threatening disease.
The upcoming IMI Rounds and the Routine Immunization activities can be sustained only through multi-stakeholder approach – Support from allied departments, Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Village Council Chairperson, Women leaders and members of IMA, IAP, IDA, Rotary, Lions etc. “We have to ensure that all children under 5 years of age in your family or community complete their dose during this special immunization sessions being organized in your area as part of IMI,” the department said.
Factors limiting vaccination coverage usually include large, mobile, and isolated populations that are difficult to reach, low demand from under-informed or misinformed populations and fear of side effects after vaccination. The Health Department said that by focusing on such populations where these programmatic challenges exist, IMI drives target to vaccinate these left out and dropped out children and eligible pregnant women who were missed in Routine Immunization activities.
