Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0

The Immunization Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as the ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization’ (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
In 1985, the programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP) to be implemented in a phased manner to cover all districts in the country.
Under UIP, immunization is providing free of cost against 12 vaccine preventable diseases:
- Nationally against 9 diseases – Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and Meningitis & Pneumonia caused by Hemophilus Influenza type B
- Sub-nationally against 3 diseases – Rotavirus, Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Japanese Encephalitis; of which Rotavirus vaccine and Pneumococcal Conjugate vaccine are in process of expansion while JE vaccine is provided only in endemic districts.
A child is said to be fully immunized if the child receives all due vaccines as per national immunization schedule within the 1st year age of child.
Every year the Universal Immunization Programme caters to the vaccination needs of 2.65 crore children and 2.9 crore pregnant women against these 12 Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Despite these efforts by all the States and UTs, some children and pregnant women get missed out from this network.
Mission Indradhanush was launched by the government to reach out to every dropped out and left out child and pregnant woman.

To strengthen and re-energize the Universal Immunization Programme and achieve full immunization coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace, the Government of India launched “Mission Indradhanush” in 2014.

Goal of Mission Indradhanush

The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women.
The Government has identified 201 high focus districts across 28 states in the country that have the highest number of partially immunized and unimmunized children.
Earlier the increase in full immunization coverage was 1% per year which has increased to 6.7% per year through the first two phases of Mission Indradhanush.
Four phases of Mission Indradhanush have been conducted till 2017 and more than 2.53 crore children and 68 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated.

To further intensify the immunization programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) in 2017.
Through this programme, Government of India aims to reach each and every child up to two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP.
Special attention was given to unserved/low coverage pockets in sub-centre and urban slums with migratory populations.

It was launched in 2019 to ensure reaching the unreached with all available vaccines and accelerate the coverage of children and pregnant women in the identified districts and blocks.

In February 2012, the government launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush in pre-identified 250 districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs in the country.
IMI 3.0 will build on the gains of previous phases of the campaign and make lasting gains towards Universal Immunization. It will target achieving 90% Full Immunization Coverage (FIC) in all districts of the country.
Focus of the IMI 3.0 will be the children and pregnant women who have missed their vaccine doses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during COVID19.

Why in News?

Under Mission Indradhanush, full immunization coverage among children aged 12 to 23 months have reached 76.4 per cent.

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