Percentage of fully immunized children highest in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Percentage of fully immunized children is the highest (90.5 percent) in Odisha, revealed the phase-II of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) published on Wednesday.
Full immunization drive among children aged 12-23 months has recorded substantial improvement from 62 per cent to 76 per cent at all-India level in the past five years.
Fully immunized means a child has taken all the scheduled vaccines supplied by the government. A child in Odisha takes as many as 12 vaccines from government facilities. Mostly local health workers along with Anganwadi workers coordinate the vaccine camps at village level with the help of health department officials.
Odisha is far ahead of the national average of 76.4 per cent. This eastern state’s score was 78.6 per cent in 2015-16 (NFHS-4). Besides Odisha, other top five states in immunization were Himachal Pradesh 89.3 percent, Tamil Nadu 89.2 percent, West Bengal 87.8 percent, Karnataka 84.1 percent and Goa 81.9 percent.
According to the survey, 98.1 percent of children aged between 12 and 23 months have received most of their vaccinations in a public health facility in Odisha. While 99.1 percent children were from rural areas, 91.8 percent were from urban localities. However, only a miniscule 1.4 per cent of children (most of them from urban localities) in Odisha received their vaccines from private facilities.
As many as 97.3 percent of children aged 12-23 months have received BCG vaccine. Similarly, 94.4 percent of children aged 12-23 months have received three doses of penta or hepatitis B vaccine.
State health minister Naba Kishore Das congratulated the entire health staff, especially the people involved in the immunization programme for achieving this feat. “Because of their tireless effort, we achieved this percentage. We will work hard to further improve our percentage,” he added.
Nilamadhab Jena from the Indian Association of Paediatrics (IAP) Odisha said it is a good sign that parents are aware about the immunization programme and follow it. “Odisha has witnessed a high infant mortality rate during the past. But this type of immunization percentage shows that we can reduce infant mortality rate. Vaccines will protect the children from dangerous diseases. It is a good thing that Odisha has the highest percentage in immunization leaving many developed states behind,” he added.
Due to the Covid-19 situation and the imposition of lockdown, NFHS-5 fieldwork in phase 2 states/UTs was conducted in two parts. NFHS-5 fieldwork for Odisha was conducted from January 19, 2020 to March 21, 2020 prior to the lockdown and from November 30, 2020 to March 31 this year post lockdown by Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR). Information was gathered from 26,467 households, 27,971 women, and 3,865 men.