Bhubaneswar: In the wake of death of over 100 children due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) last year, the state government has geared up to launch mass vaccination campaign to combat JE in 13 districts from November 27 this year. The campaign will continue for nearly 20 days.
“Last year, we have vaccinated in four districts including Malkangiri. This year, we are taking up the programme in 13 districts. About 71.8 lakh children in the 1 to 15 age group will be vaccinated with one dose of JE vaccine each,’’ said National Health Mission (NHM) director Salini Pandit.
The vaccination campaign will be launched in Balasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Khurda, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Puri, Rayagada, Sonepur and Sundargarh districts.
In a joint letter, Health secretary PK Meherda and Panchayati Raj secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh advised the concerned district collectors in the 13 districts and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner to assess the actual beneficiary load and prepare an action plan.
“Soon after completion of the campaign, JE vaccine will be included in the routine immunisation programme. In this context, support of the district panchayat officer and PRI members for the activities to achieve 100 per cent coverage during the campaign,” the letter said.
During the initial campaign period, the vaccination will be done for school going children in their respective schools (both government and private), followed by vaccination at the community level. The letter instructed the officials to create community awareness for vaccination campaign, community mobilisation for achieving the target, to discuss the benefits of vaccination during Gram sabha and Gram Panchayat meetings and also to monitor school and community level campaign activities.
Similarly, the government has also decided to launch a mass vaccination programme to combat Measles Rubella (MR) in all the 30 districts beginning January next year. The maximum number of cases of Measles and Rubella are reported among children below the age of 15.
The Centre has decided to replace the measles vaccine with the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine under the universal immunisation programme. Prior to the introduction of the MR vaccine, a national vaccination campaign targeting children from nine months of age to 15 years will be taken up.
“In Orissa, the campaign will begin in the last week of January, 2018 with a view to vaccinate 1.25 crore children. A minimum of 95 per cent evaluated coverage along with 100 per cent reported coverage is to be achieved in each district,” the government said in another letter to all collectors.
Anganwadi workers, officials from women and child development department would be involved in the vaccination process. PNN
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