Sikkim to roll out Intensified Mission Indradhanush from August

Sikkim is preparing for the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0, which aims to safeguard infants and pregnant women from deadly infections, said Anusha Lama, Principal Director of Health Service on July 31.
 
She further said that the first round of immunization under the IMI 5.0 will begin in Sikkim in three phases beginning next month.

''The IMI 5.0 represents a significant step forward in the elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and rubella, as well as the improvement of routine inoculation. Sikkim will start its IMI 5.0 from 7-12 August after that from 11-16 September and from 9-14 October 2023 which aims to cover cent per cent vaccinations,'' she said during a workshop.

Later, Dr SK Ray, SMO, WHO gave a brief overview of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush and gave a brief report on the vaccination process in India as well as in the entire nation. 

He said that in India, 27 crore infants and 3 crore pregnant women are vaccinated safely every year and in Sikkim, 7043 infants and 7566 pregnant women are vaccinated annually without any adverse report. 

On the other hand, Sonam G Bhutia, Deputy Director, SIECB shared the role of the media while sharing information with regard to public health issues and some dos and don'ts for the media while sharing critical news. 

It is worth mentioning that the programme targets children aged 0 to 2 years who may have missed their age-appropriate vaccination or dropped out of schedule. It will cover 2 to 5 years who have missed the required Measles and Rubella vaccine 1st dose and 2nd dose, along with booster doses of DPT and OPV. It also aims to vaccinate pregnant women who have not been vaccinated or have only received partial vaccination. 

The campaign will cover all community-based routine immunization centers like the MCH clinic of STNM Hospital, District Hospital, CHCS, PHCS, PHSCs, and routine immunization sites. 

The campaign for the same will be finalized after house to house survey by ASHA and AWW at the village and ward level using standardized formats issued by the immunization division Government of India. 

All entries of the beneficiaries will be done in a digital platform, UWIN wherein each due beneficiary will be pre-registered in the UWIN platform after the verification with the Aadhar card and phone number of the parents and guardians or beneficiaries. 

A vaccination certificate will be generated from the U WIN platform and there will be also an option for spot registration on the vaccination site. 

During the entire period of the vaccination, all UIP vaccines will be available in all the session sites free of cost under Universal Immunization Programme. 

Moreover, there will be no house-to-house campaign activity like pulse polio as it is an injectable campaign and the campaign will be also monitored by designated state and district officials to ensure the quality of the campaign. 

The campaign is supported by developmental partners like the World Health Organization, UNDP, UNICEF, Jhpiego, etc working in the state.

Also read: 'BJP working to make Sikkim corruption free', says state party in-charge Dilip Jaiswal