Immunization

In developing countries such as India, the second most populous country in the world, vaccine-preventable diseases trigger a high incidence of diseases related deaths, both among children and in adults. According to UNICEF, Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions to date, averting an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year yet in 2019 alone, an estimated 14 million infants remain unimmunized .On an average, nearly 20 million children are still unvaccinated and under-vaccinated worldwide. According to Niti Aayog and National
Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) for 2015-16, only 62% of children in India were fully immunized and less than 60% of the children receive the entire basket of vaccines. For a country that is a leading producer and exporter of vaccines, India is home to one-third of the world’s unimmunized children & tens of thousands of birth defects every year. Adding to this, the report published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2018, with 2.3 million, India stands at second highest number of children who are not vaccinated against measles, a number that has doubled in 2018 from the earlier 1.1 million. While significant steps have been taken through policies including Mission Indradhanush and Universal Immunization Program (UIP) to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women, there lies other challenges to the problem on the other hand. In the recent MR mass vaccination which has been introduced in the high performing South Indian states, India has faced a new challenge of vaccination resistance/ refusal in response to the negative propaganda in the social media (WhatsApp and Facebook). In fact, in 2019 WHO listed vaccine hesitancy as among top 10 threats to global health. Thus, the aim of this project is to both present the challenges of this Misinformation and suggest the necessary strategies as the way forward to promote and ensure universal immunization.

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