India: According to the Source Health Management Information System, the national full vaccination coverage for 2023-24 was 93.50 per cent, with Lakshadweep and Jammu and Kashmir topping the list. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said Lakshadweep (108.79 per cent) and Jammu and Kashmir (108.66 per cent) were followed by Telangana (106.13 per cent), Delhi (105.03 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (101.26 per cent), Mizoram (101.10 per cent) and Maharashtra (101.04 per cent). Vaccination coverage was over 95 per cent in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Jharkhand Gujarat, Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh during this period.
According to health ministry sources,
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu had the lowest coverage at 48.03 per cent. According to sources in the Ministry of Health, the figure was more than 100 per cent in some states and Union Territories, as coverage was enhanced by catch-up campaigns such as Intensified Mission Indradhanush and vaccination of migrant population. Under the Universal Immunisation Programme, all eligible children up to the age of two years are given vaccine doses as per the immunisation schedule. Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush were special catch-up campaigns organised at regular intervals to ensure vaccination of missed and left-out children and pregnant women in areas with low immunisation coverage, Adhav said in his reply. The government encourages states and Union Territories to create model vaccination centres. Vaccination camps are also organised based on requirements in the states. Model vaccination centres are already operational in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and the Union Territories of Chandigarh and Ladakh, Jadhav said.
