Over 26 million kids given measles vaccine between Apr 2022-Mar 2023: Govt

More than 2.63 crore children across the country received the first dose of measles containing vaccine (MCV) between April 2022 and March 2023, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Mandaviya was responding to a question on whether an estimated 11 lakh children in India missed their first measles vaccine dose in 2022, as stated in a report by the World Health Organisation and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

"While the World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes various reports on Immunisation, under Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), data regarding Measles Containing Vaccines (MCV) administered free of cost to all eligible children is captured in the Health Management Information System (HMIS).

"As per HMIS, a total of 2,63,63,270 children received 1st dose of MCV throughout the country against the estimated target of 2,63,84,580 children in the period between April 2022 to March 2023," Mandaviya said.

Listing steps taken by the government in coordination with the states and union territories to ensure that all eligible children receive missed or due doses of vaccines, including MCV, Mandaviya said that special catch up campaigns of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) are carried out in areas of low immunisation coverage to vaccinate all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children.

Also, IMI 3.0 and IMI 4.0 were carried out in select districts with low immunisation coverage whereas IMI 5.0 was carried out in all districts of the country. In IMI 5.0, the age for administration of missed doses of MCV was increased from 2 years to 5 years.

Additionally, states and union territories have conducted Outbreak Response Immunisation (ORI) and Supplementary Immunisation Activities (SIA) to increase the coverage of MCV, Mandaviya stated.