Nearly half of UP kids still out of complete immunisation ambit

Although the number of children getting complete routine immunisation in Uttar Pradesh has gone up over the past decade, there’s still a long way to go.

Almost half of the children are out of the ambit of complete vaccination even today.

As per the data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) reports, 23% kids under the age of 2 years were covered under complete routine immunisation in 2005-06.

According to NFHS-IV data, this has climbed to 51.1% for the year 2015-16.

“Data indicates that nearly half of the children in the state are still not getting complete immunisation. This needs focus to save kids from preventable diseases,” said an expert with the health department.

Immunisation prevents illnesses, disabilities and death from vaccine-preventable diseases.

There are 25 diseases that can be prevented through vaccines including diphtheria, measles, pertussis, pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus.

Death estimates of 2015 show that most pneumococcal deaths among 1-to-59-month-old children occurred in UP - 19,000 deaths.

India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is one of the largest in the world, with a birth cohort of 2.7 crore annually.

Of these, many children get either partial or no vaccination.

This includes 72 lakh those who receive partial vaccinations for seven life-threatening diseases and 17 lakh those who are completely out of reach. According to the latest NFHS-4 estimates, the full immunisation coverage of India stands at 62%.

However, achieving complete immunisation is possible. Smallpox was eliminated in India in 1980 and the country has gone for more than three years without a single case of wild Polio virus - a feat once regarded as impossible, said an expert.