The Narendra Modi government has offered to give Covoxin vaccines to adolescents aged 15-18 years to protect against Covid-19. But due to the Corona epidemic, the pace of non-Covid vaccination campaigns in the country has come to a standstill. According to the data released by UNICEF, the vaccination campaign in the country was badly affected in 2020 as the coverage of all the major vaccination campaigns was very low. The shortage of health workers in rural areas is one of the major factors affecting the immunization program in the country. Same India seems to be lagging behind the neighboring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in the matter of applying non-covid vaccines.
The Universal Immunization Program (UIP) was introduced in India in the 1980s. Under this program, to protect newborns and children in the country from seven diseases, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, measles, a severe form of child tuberculosis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), and diarrhea Vaccines are given.
Polio vaccine decreased for the first time since 1991
UNICEF data show that the third dose of polio vaccine given to children aged 12 to 23 months decreased by five percent in 2020 compared to 2019. This is the biggest reduction in dosage since 1991. The country's polio immunization went down to the 2014 level, with total coverage of around 85 percent. Similarly, in the case of DPT (diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus), the first dose given to children aged 12-23 months has decreased by 7 percent. This is also the steepest decline since 1991. The last time a shortfall (of one percent) in the DPT vaccine was reported was in 2006. Compared to last year, tuberculosis (TB) vaccines were also found to be seven percent less. The last time this vaccine was given was in 2007.
speed reduced due to corona epidemic
According to the report, the coverage of only the rotavirus vaccine and new pneumococcal vaccine in children has seen an uptick compared to last year. Rotavirus vaccine coverage for children aged around 12-23 months jumped 29 percent from 53 percent to 82 percent, while pneumococcal vaccine coverage increased from 15 percent to 21 percent between 2019 and 2020. The country's immunization program was to cover all districts by 1989-90. The country was making progress on all vaccination standards, but the pandemic slowed its pace.
India's performance worse than Bangladesh and Pakistan
Comparing India with other countries, it has come to the fore that India's performance is poor among the major economies of the world. India lags behind Mexico, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in terms of decline in TB vaccines among the world's largest economies. Whereas in terms of increasing vaccination coverage during the corona pandemic year, India is not doing well even compared to the countries of South Asia, even Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have topped the TB vaccine in the year 2020, despite lockdowns and barriers to reaching people amid the challenges of the corona pandemic.
India lags behind Brazil and Indonesia when it comes to the hepatitis B vaccine. In the South Asia region, only Pakistan and Nepal were the worst performers after India in DPT vaccination. Brazil and Indonesia performed poorly in terms of measles and rubella vaccines. One of the main reasons why immunization programs are affected is the shortage of health workers in rural areas and the impact on rural health programs, including government vaccination campaigns.
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