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FLAME in the news
Only 6.6% kids unvaxxed in India in 2021, professor finds
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com | June 1, 2023A study by a city-based professor, who analysed the immunization data of the past 30 years from across the country, found the prevalence of children who did not receive even a single dose of the diphtheria-tetanus pertussis vaccine decreased from 33.4% to 6.6% between 1993 and 2021.
The professor stated the decrease was very obvious between 2006 to 2016 when the financial push for mother and child health programmes was at its peak. The National Health Mission was also declared at the same time. There was a slight resurgence in the percentage of unvaccinated children post-2016, especially in 2021, due to the pandemic.
The resurgence of 0-dose prevalence in 10 states specifically highlights the importance of programmes like Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0, a major national initiative to improve immunization coverage.
Although more than three-fourths of children aged 12 to 23 months in India are fully vaccinated, more than 3 million children were unable to receive any routine vaccinations in 2021, making India the country with the highest number of
children with 0-dose status worldwide. Besides being vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases, children with 0-dose status are also at higher risk of poor health and nutritional outcomes, leading to a high risk of morbidity and poor growth trajectories over the life course, said paediatricians.
Professor Sunil Rajpal, a professor in Pune's Flame University, compared the data available with the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). Based on that data, it was found that the difference in immunization coverage in urban and rural areas has also diminished over the years. The study was also analysed by Akhil Kumar, Mira Johri, Rockli Kim and S V Subramanian.
Dr. Rajpal said, "Over the years, through multiple efforts, we have found that both central and state efforts to immunize children have proven to be beneficial as the prevalence of unvaccinated children has gone down. We also found that
there was a huge gap of unvaccinated children from rural and urban areas in 1993, which, by 2021, is almost the same. While in 1993 almost 45% of the children from rural areas were unvaccinated and 18% from urban areas, as of 2021, this has gone down to 7% in urban areas and 6% in rural areas." The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on February 10, 2023.
there was a huge gap of unvaccinated children from rural and urban areas in 1993, which, by 2021, is almost the same. While in 1993 almost 45% of the children from rural areas were unvaccinated and 18% from urban areas, as of 2021, this has gone down to 7% in urban areas and 6% in rural areas." The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on February 10, 2023.
This article highlights the research outcomes of Prof. Sunil Rajpal, Faculty of Economics, FLAME University.