Health: All states and union territories (UTs) have rolled out phase one of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 with the aim of covering children and pregnant women who missed their routine immunisation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A statement released by the Health Ministry said that more than 29,000 children and 5,000 pregnant women had been covered on the first day.
The mission, which commenced on February 22nd, 2021 is designed to have two rounds of immunisation sessions lasting 15 days each; phase two will start on March 22nd. The campaign is being conducted in 250 pre-identified high-risk districts across 29 states and UTs in the country.
IMI 3.0 will particularly target migrant workers and those living in remote areas as there were higher chances of them missing their vaccine doses during the pandemic.
Apart from ensuring strict adherence to COVID appropriate behaviours during the immunisation activities, the ministry has asked states to follow a staggered approach to avoid crowding at vaccination sites.
Read this article on why we need better vaccines to tackle tuberculosis which kills nearly two million people every year.
