Punjab has become one of the leading States in the country in immunisation coverage of children with 89.1 percent as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 and 95 per cent coverage as per Health Management Information System (HMIS) 2018-19.
Expressing satisfaction that state's flagship immunization programmes had significantly reduced incidence of major common diseases amongst infants and children, the state Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the Department is vaccinating the children against 10 diseases including Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Poliomyelitis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hemophilus influenza B, Rotavirus diarrhoea, Measles and Rubella.
He said that these essential vaccinations had ensured the proper growth of children and it also guaranteed safety of their life from the preventable diseases which caused death of lakhs of children in our country.
The Minister added that children, who, fail to get all these essential vaccines are more likely to fall sick more frequently, would be malnourished. “It is on official record that the mortality among un-immunised children is higher than the immunised. Over the past few years, India has seen remarkable reduction in the infants and under-five mortality whereas Punjab has seen much more reduction as compared to the national achievement,” he said.
“Recently, the Health Department has introduced adult dose of Diphtheria Vaccine (shift from TT to Td) into the immunisation programme in order to combat the emergence of Diphtheria in older age groups. Continuing with the same process we have launched Rotavirus Vaccine in August 2019,” he said.
