IMI 4.0 to cover missed and dropped out children
Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI 4.0) focuses on Universal Immunization and is being conducted over three rounds across 416 districts.
The Union Health Minister virtually launched the IMI 4.0 portal and released the “Operational Guidelines for IMI 4.0”, “Strengthening Immunization in Urban Areas-A framework for Action” and a handbook for “Mahila Arogya Samiti on Urban Immunization” and awareness material/IEC package developed as part of the campaign.
Till date, ten phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed covering 701 districts across the country. As of April 2021, during the various phases of Mission Indradhanush, a total of 3.86 crore children and 96.8 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated. The first two phases of Mission Indradhanush resulted in 6.7% increase in full immunization coverage in a year. A survey (IMI- CES) carried out in 190 districts covered in Intensified Mission Indradhanush (5th phase of Mission Indradhanush) shows 18.5% points increase in full immunization coverage as compared to NFHS-4.
Three rounds of IMI 4.0 have been planned to catch up on the gaps that might have emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The activity will be conducted in 416 districts across 33 states/UTs. These districts have been identified based on vaccination coverage as per the latest National Family Health Survey-5 report, Health Management Information System (HMIS) data and burden of vaccine preventable diseases.
Considering the recent upsurge of COVID-19 cases, states have been given the flexibility of carrying out the activity either from February 2022- April 2022 or from March to May 2022. The first round started from 7th February 2022 onwards; second from 7th March 2022; and the third from 4th April 2022. 11 out of 33 states have planned to go ahead with the February – April 2022 schedule.