Target 90 per cent vaccination coverage: PM to health ministry

A LITTLE over two years after Mission Indradhanush was launched with fanfare to increase vaccination coverage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the Health Ministry to pull up its socks and target 90 per cent coverage at least, instead of staying satisfied with the gains of the last couple of years.

At the monthly Pragati review meeting held last week, Modi, sources said, expressed displeasure that there were still wide disparities in the vaccination coverage of various districts.

The Pragati meeting is held every month, where the PM takes stock of one pre-decided issue. At last Wednesday’s meeting, Modi told the ministry there was no room for complacency though the annual rate of increase in vaccination coverage has, since the launch of Indradhanush, increased sharply from 1 per cent to 7 per cent.

“The PM spoke about ensuring cent per cent coverage in the country, and doing whatever it takes to achieve that. He told us the ministry has so far done well in pulling the vaccination coverage up by 7 per cent from the dismal 1 per cent where it stood .... The review was not about looking at what went wrong in the past. It was about setting new targets and meeting them,” said a source in the Health Ministry.

Modi ordered the ministry to depute more officers on the ground if required, but meet the target of 100 per cent immunisation of all children born in India. According to the sources, Modi said that, if required, 100 officers be deputed in the 100 most backward districts so that there are no gaps in coverage.

Mission Indradhanush, launched on December 25, 2014, was started with the target of raising vaccination coverage in 201 districts of the country where 50 per cent children were unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated.

PTI file At the Pragati meeting last Wednesday.