Vaccination drive against Japanese Encephalitis in Odisha

A vaccination drive against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) was launched today in Odisha's tribal-dominated Malkangiri district where the disease has so far claimed the lives of more than 100 children.
As many as 2,18,027 children, aged between 1 and 15 years, have been identified for the vaccination drive which was inaugurated by District Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarty on the premises of a school in this district headquarter town here.
A total of 175 teams have been formed for the exercise which would be carried out for 15 days at 128 vaccination centres set up across the backward district, a senior official said.

Around 700 employees have been engaged in the whole operation, he said, adding school teachers have also been asked to monitor the programme, while senior officials are taking all necessary measures to ensure that all the identified children are covered in the vaccination drive.
While schools having larger number of students are being covered in the initial phase, the health teams would also visit other schools and houses in the district to administer the vaccine, he said.
Control rooms have also been set up at district and block levels to monitor the programme and ensure proper implementation, the Collector said.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Pradip Kumar Amat informed the state Assembly through a written answer that there is no rule for providing compensation to the parents of children who died due to Japanese Encephalitis.