Tamil Nadu govt launches Mission Indradhanush 5.0 immunisation programme

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Monday launched the intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 to immunise pregnant women and children below five years against life-threatening diseases.

A fortnight-long enumeration of households in the state from July 15-31 this year revealed that about 72,760 children and 14,180 pregnant women were yet to be vaccinated. The present initiative would prioritise the "left out" beneficiaries and the details about their vaccination would be uploaded on U-WIN vaccinator portal of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, he said.

During this intensified mission, vaccination against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) i.e. diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections, Japanese encephalitis, rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and measles-rubella would be provided, the Minister said while speaking on the occasion.

"There is sufficient stock of the vaccines in the state," Subramanian said and added that the target groups have been administered the shots every year.

Tamil Nadu has been implementing the nationwide vaccination programme since 1985 and under this programme around 10 lakh pregnant mothers and 9.16 lakh infants have been vaccinated annually.

About 1.72 lakh pregnant mothers besides 6.94 lakh children were given the "missed" doses through 2.98 lakh camps since the Indradhanush programme was launched in 2014, the Minister said.

The IMI 5.0 will be held in three phases: from August 7 -12, September 11 - 16 and October 9 - 14, with each camp lasting for six days, Subramanian said.