JE vaccination: Most districts surpass target

LUCKNOW: The state capital topped the chart of 38 districts where Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccination drive was conducted in April. Mau came in second.

Tweeting about the campaign on Monday, health minister Siddharthnath Singh wrote that the initiative, undertaken on war footing, had yielded great results with many districts surpassing the 100% vaccination target.

Joint director health department Vikasendu Agrawal, who coordinated the drive, said that the districts that had exceeded their targets were those that had a large migratory population.

“In many districts migratory population was also included in the drive. These families were not included in the first list when the target was set. However, as they were identified, vaccination was provided to them too, thus helping surpass the 100% target,” said Agrawal.

While Lucknow had the target of vaccinating 47,981 children, 90,124 kids (187.83%) were vaccinated. In Mau, 19,434 kids (167.82%), against the target of 11, 580, were vaccinated. Overall, 32 districts achieved over 100% vaccination, while only two reported less than 90% vaccination -Unnao (89.86%) and Faizabad (89.77%).

The drive was undertaken from April 2 to 16. In some districts, it was extended by three days. The report, prepared after compiling reports from all districts, showed the cumulative vaccination percentage as 106.74%.

JE has been troubling children in 38 districts in the state, particularly in the seven districts of Gorakhpur region. This year, the state government decided to carry out the vaccination campaign in April, so that the vaccine effect is at its peak during the monsoon when there is a spike in JE cases.

Every year, several children die and hundreds fall ill or face disability due to the disease. Experts hope that this year’s initiative of early vaccination will help bring relief to children.

LUCKNOW TOPPED THE LIST OF 38 DISTS WHERE THE DRIVE WAS UNDERTAKEN IN APRIL