UP kickstarts Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 drive to vaccinate women from today!

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Health Department of Uttar Pradesh has kickstarted a special drive to vaccinate women in the state. Starting from March 8, the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 drive is set to be carried out for the next 7 days. Under the ambit of this drive, the administration will focus on covering pregnant women and children aged less than 2 years who have missed their routine doses because of the pandemic.

UP marks a 10% drop in vaccination coverage due to COVID

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With the onset of the pandemic, the routine immunisation of women and children has taken a backseat in the last two years. Reportedly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed a drop of more than 10% in vaccination coverage during the COVID crisis.

According to the data of the Uttar Pradesh health department, in the year 2019-2020, the immunisation coverage was noted at 94% which marked a 10% decline in 2020-21. From 84% coverage in the year 2020-2021, the vaccination rate further slumped down to 81% in 2021-22(till January).

Over 1.3 lakh vaccination sessions to be conducted in IMI 4.0

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While the Union health ministry has marked 56 UP districts that are to be covered on a priority basis, the state administration has launched this drive in all 75 districts. To cover the slump caused by the pandemic, the IMI drive was initiated by the government to fill the gap and make lasting gains towards universal immunisation.

With this state-wide vaccination plan, the administration aims to innoculate more than 2.8 lakh pregnant women and around 9.1 lakh children in the next 7 days. As a part of this drive, around 1.3 lakh immunisation sessions will be carried out across the state.

What is Intensified Mission Indradhanush?

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The Intensified Mission Indradhanush is a nationwide scheme that aims to fully immunize more than 89 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated under the Universal Immunisation Program with a focus on urban areas. Initiated in October 2017, this scheme was launched to fill the gap of Mission Indradhanush.

So far, three phases of this countrywide scheme have been carried out in India. In the fourth phase, the Union Health Department aims to cover 416 districts across 33 states and union territories in three rounds.

-with inputs from IANS