More than one in five deaths of youngsters under 5 within the world happen in India. Over half of these deaths are because of vaccine preventable and treatable infections like pneumonia, diarrhea and sepsis. When it comes to India’s deathrate ,it’s very shocking to know that the rate is 39 meaning about 9.9 lakh babies die within one year of birth mostly from preventable causes.
To overcome its high child death rate India has added four new vaccines to its universal immunization programme besides providing free vaccines against 10 life threatening diseases to 27 million children through quite 9 million immunization sessions every year.
Unvaccinated children are more in danger of dying before their 5th birthday making vaccines the foremost cost-effective public health intervention to forestall diseases and death. Immunization has helped bring down the annual mortality of kids under five from 3.3 million to 1.3 million deaths that’s 17000 deaths daily.
India has highest number of unvaccinated children within the world with 89 lakh children not receiving all vaccines and 17 lakh not getting vaccinated in the slightest degree.
Till 2014 only 65% children were fully immunized getting three doses of the DPT or pantavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, respiratory illness, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B till the age of two.
The government of India launched Mission Indradhanush in 2014 so as to completely immunize 90% of India’s 26 million children till the age of 5.Four new vaccines including PCV vaccine, a vaccine against polio, rotavirus vaccine against diarrhea, rubella against measles and therefore the vaccine against pneumonia are extended in 2017.
Since the primary phase of immunization in April 2015, 2.1 crore children are vaccinated against 10 preventable diseases –polio, childhood tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, pneumonia and diarrhea and measles across India. Again Of them 55 lakh were fully immunized in 497 districts across 35 states and union territories according to the sources.
The most challenges to successful immunization are reliance on quacks that job against the govt system or myths and beliefs. Parents lack awareness of advantages of vaccination. Shortage of trained personal within the remote areas also a number one factor.