An Intensified Mission Indradhanush drive (IMI 5.0) would be launched from September 11 in Odisha. The drive aims to identify and register all children under the age of five years and pregnant women who missed their vaccine doses.
The IMI 5.0 drive would be carried out in three rounds between September and November 2023, with each round spanning six days. The first round would be held from September 11 to16, while the second and third round would be held from October 9 to 14 and November 6 to11, respectively.
The drive intends to vaccinate 1,04,261 unvaccinated or partly vaccinated children and 19,896 pregnant women in 314 blocks in 30 districts.
Director of Family Welfare Bijaya Kumar Panigrahy, said, “Odisha is committed to immunise all under-five children who may have been left out or dropped out of vaccination programmes as our objective is to vaccinate every child.”
Mishra further said, “When it comes to children, mothers cannot be ignored. So all pregnant women, who have missed their vaccination would also be covered during the campaign.”
According to the NFHS V (2019-21), Odisha has the highest immunisation coverage in the country. The full immunisation coverage in Odisha has increased from 36.1% (NFHS 1 report, 1992-93) to 90.5% (NFHS 5 Report, 2019-21). This has significantly reduced vaccine-preventable diseases and under-5 mortality in the state.
UNICEF social and behaviour change specialist, Dr Sugata Roy said children and pregnant mothers may miss immunisation due lack of knowledge on the benefits of vaccines. We would educate households and mobilise the families for uptake of vaccination.”