The report shows the gains made in 2022 over 2021 has eroded a year later as the measles and DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) vaccines could not be administered to over 350,000 kids in 2023, despite the Union Health Ministry’s campaigns.
New Delhi: Three years after the pandemic, India’s child immunisation level is yet to reach the pre-pandemic stage as the national programme missed 1.6 million children for DPT and measles shots in 2023, says the World Health Organisation and the UNICEF in its latest global immunisation report released on Monday.
The report shows the gains made in 2022 over 2021 has eroded a year later as the measles and DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) vaccines could not be administered to over 350,000 kids in 2023, despite the Union Health Ministry launching catch-up campaigns to improve India’s child immunisation records.
The 1.6 million “zero-dose” children in 2023 is 45 per cent higher than 1.1 million such children in 2022, but significantly lower than the two previous pandemic years.“India’s immunisation coverage was quite affected in the pandemic years of 2020 and 21 but since then it is on an encouraging trajectory. The 2023 achievement is still slightly below 2019,” Jan Grevendonk, Technical Officer in charge of immunization, vaccines and biologicals at the WHO headquarters in Geneva told DH.