Immunisation

The national full immunisation coverage for 2023-24 was 93.50 per cent, with Lakshadweep and Jammu and Kashmir topping the list, according to the Source Health Management Information System. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said Lakshadweep (108.79 per cent) and Jammu and Kashmir (108.66 per cent) were followed by Telangana (106.13 per cent), Delhi (105.03 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (101.26 per cent), Mizoram (101.10 per cent) and Maharashtra (101.04 per cent). Immunisation coverage was above 95 per cent in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Jharkhand Gujarat, Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh during this period. The coverage was the lowest in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu at 48.03 per cent. According to health ministry sources, some states and Union territories had figures higher than 100 per cent because of increased coverage by catch-up campaigns such as Intensified Mission Indradhan

The U-WIN portal aims to create an electronic registry of routine immunisations for pregnant women and children under the Universal Immunisation Programme

Persistent socio-economic barriers and geographical disparities hinder immunisation efforts, with significant impact on global health

The amount will be finalised at a meeting on Thursday in Paris, where donors will make pledges for the organisation's plan for 2026-2030

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A total of 91,237 children in the age group of 0-5 years have been administered vaccine doses during the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme held in Goa. The immunisation programme was held on Sunday across 660 polio booth camps in Goa, as per a media statement issued by the state Directorate of Health Services. "Total 91,237 doses were administered to the children, which means an equal number of children benefitted with the programme," the official said. The target was to cover more than one lakh children during the campaign, he said. This will be followed by a house-to-house survey and coverage activity from March 4-6 during which doses for the left over children would be administered, he added.

Push to include cervical cancer vaccination in Universal Immunisation Programme and set up more medical colleges

The U-WIN portal is linked with Co-WIN portal and the beneficiary records from Co-WIN can be accessed through U-WIN using the registered mobile number for facilitation of registration of children

The government is set to launch 'U-WIN' portal, designed on the lines of COVID-19 vaccine management system Co-WIN, for maintaining an electronic registry of routine immunisations. The U-WIN programme has been designed to digitise the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and it is presently being run in a pilot mode in two districts of each state and Union Territory. The platform will be used to register and vaccinate every pregnant woman, record her delivery outcome, register every newborn delivery, administer birth doses and all vaccination events thereafter, official sources told PTI. U-WIN, which will replicate Co-WIN, was launched on January 11 in 65 districts across the country. Vaccination records under UIP are being maintained manually as of now. So this will do away with the hassle of keeping a physical record. It will enable the digitisation of session planning, and updating vaccination status on a real-time basis, an official said. Presently, multiple vaccines and dos

The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 was launched in Nagaland along with the rest of the country on Monday with the target to immunise 2,064 pregnant women and children below 5 years in the state. Principal Director of Health and Family Welfare Vibeituonuo M Sachu launched the programme by administering the first dose to an infant at the Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Kohima district. During the first round, 209 sessions will be held to immunise 2,064 beneficiaries, including 1,885 children and 179 pregnant women, across Nagaland, State Immunisation Officer Dr Imkongtemsu Longchar told PTI. The drive aims to vaccinate the children and pregnant women left out during the routine immunisation activities, he said. Sachu said that IMI 5.0 aims to strengthen routine immunisation under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). A lot of beneficiaries in the first round are those who have missed different vaccines or were left out after the first dose, she said. Healthc

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Monday launched the intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 to immunise pregnant women and children below five years against life-threatening diseases. A fortnight-long enumeration of households in the state from July 15-31 this year revealed that about 72,760 children and 14,180 pregnant women were yet to be vaccinated. The present initiative would prioritise the "left out" beneficiaries and the details about their vaccination would be uploaded on U-WIN vaccinator portal of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, he said. During this intensified mission, vaccination against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) i.e. diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections, Japanese encephalitis, rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and measles-rubella would be provided, the Minister said while speaking on the occasion. "There is ...

The World Health Organization on Tuesday called for intensified efforts towards childhood immunization with a focus on reaching the 2.3 million unvaccinated and 650,000 partially vaccinated children. The WHO's South-East Asia Region complimented member countries for scaling up childhood immunization coverage to pre-pandemic level. Every child deserves to be protected against life-threatening diseases with routine immunization, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the regional director of WHO's South-East Asia region. "The momentum built with impressive efforts and immunization service recoveries must continue to benefit every child for a healthy and productive life," she said. The WHO and UNICEF estimates for national immunization coverage for 2022, released on Tuesday, show that in WHO's south-east Asia region the coverage rate for DPT3, third dose of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccines reached 91 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, a sharp increase from 82 per cent recorded in

Scientists have uncovered details regarding an immune response to a virus present in all human tissues, that kicks in in the elderly and eliminates senescent, or aging, cells in the skin. Senescent cells are those that stop dividing but do not die, accumulating in the body over time, fuelling chronic inflammation and contributing to conditions such as cancer and degenerative disorders. Eliminating senescent cells from aging tissues has been found to restore tissue balance in mice, leading to an increased healthy lifespan. When a team of scientists, led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), US, found that the number of senescent cells in samples from old individuals did not increase as the individuals got older, they realised that there is some mechanism kicking in to keep the aging in check. The scientists have described their findings in the journal Cell. Experiments have proved that in the elderly, certain immune cells called killer CD4+ T cells keep senescent cells from ...

Carrying vaccination cards of children and pregnant women, struggling to keep a tab on the next jab and other such hassles may soon become a thing of the past. After the success of the Co-WIN platform, the government has now replicated it to set up an electronic registry for routine vaccinations. Named U-WIN, the programme to digitise India's Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) has been launched in a pilot mode in two districts of each state and Union Territory. The platform will be used to register and vaccinate every pregnant woman, record her delivery outcome, register every newborn delivery, administer birth doses and all vaccination events thereafter, official sources told PTI. The platform that replicates Co-WIN, which has served as the "digital backbone" for India's COVID-19 vaccination programme, was launched on January 11 in 65 districts. The U-WIN is going to be the single source of information for immunisation services, updating vaccination status, delivery outcome, .

Pulse polio immunisation booths will be set up at several Delhi Metro stations on the Violet Line which can be availed by people during September 18-20, the DMRC said on Saturday. The booths will set up at Sarai, NHPC Chowk, Bata Chowk, Old Faridabad, Escorts Mujesar, and Raja Nahar Singh (Ballabhgarh), among other stations, the DMRC said in a poster shared on Twitter. "Pulse Polio Booths will be set up at select metro stations of Violet Line for SNID round of Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme 2022-23 from 18-20 September 2022 from 09.00 AM to 04.00 PM," it said. National Immunisation Day (NID) commonly known as Pulse Polio Immunisation programme was launched in India in 1995, and is conducted twice in early part of each year. Additionally, multiple rounds (at least two) of sub national immunisation day (SNID) have been conducted over the years in high-risk states or areas. In these campaigns, children in the age group of 0-5 years are administered polio drops.

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India is implementing the largest immunisation programme globally where annually more than 3 crore pregnant women are covered through the UIP, said Mansukh Mandaviya

Booster dose of Covid-vaccine

The government recently rolled out booster or precautionary dose of Covid-19 vaccine for citizens with comorbidities. Frontline workers are getting the third shot. This report tells us about the dose

Although AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Europe has been authorised by the continent's drug regulatory agency, the same shot manufactured in India hasn't been given the green light.

The Odisha Government on Thursday said that it will launch Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) under the universal immunisation programme on June 30."The introduction of PCV in the routine immunization will benefit nearly 8 lakh young children annually in the State and it will help in reducing the risk of morbidity and mortality due to pneumonia and meningitis among children in the State", said the additional Chief Secretary PK Mohapatra in a letter to district and municipal authorities."Inviting in reference to the subject cited above, I am to say that Minister, Health & Family Welfare will launch Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) under Universal Immunization Programme on 30th June 2021 at 11.30 AM at State level through virtual mode. After the introduction of PCV in the Routine Immunization, it will benefit nearly 8 lakh young children annually in our State and this will help in reducing risk of morbidity & mortality due to Pneumonia and meningitis among children in .