Special Programme to Boost Vaccinations: Nadda

New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS) The government will launch a special programme to boost vaccinations in the country, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said Wednesday.

"In our country, nearly 70 lakh children are only partially covered and 20 lakh are just not covered under the immunisation programme," Nadda told reporters here.

In view of this, the health ministry is launching a special project called 'Indradhanush' apart from the regular vaccination programme to take care of the left-out children, he said.

"The project would be first launched in 201 districts of the country in states like Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh", the minister said.

Nadda said he would visit all the states in February and talk to the stakeholders.

"We are trying to involve public representatives also," he added.

'Indradhanush' will involve 7 basic vaccines, including for diphtheria and tetanus.

The health minister said that in addition to this, the ministry was also trying to give a boost to immunisation for Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).

"Over a four-month period between March-June, a total of five sessions each would be held to map out the process for the JE and AES immunisation programme," he said.

Nadda said the government aims to bring the rate of vaccination up to 90 percent within 2-3 years.

He said that plans were also afoot to spruce up maternal and child healthcare by making the process of mother and child tracking more IT-enabled.

"We are planning to give rural social health workers tablets to make them IT efficient," he said adding a pilot project on this is already running in the state of Chhattisgarh.