Mission Indradhanush

Vaccination is being provided against eight vaccine-preventable diseases nationally, i.e. Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis and Hepatitis B and meningitis & pneumonia caused by Haemophilus influenza type B; and against Rotavirus Diarrhea and Japanese Encephalitis in selected states and districts respectively.

The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunisation with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women.

The Government has identified 600 high focus districts across 28 states in the country that have the highest number of partially immunised and unimmunised children.

Four phases of Mission Indradhanush have been conducted till August 2017 and more than 2.53 crore children and 68 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated.

In December 2014, Mission Indradhanush was launched for a targeted approach to immunisation in India, in a bid to change the tardy annual growth rate of 1 per cent.

However, the target that the ministry had set for itself was to touch 90 per cent by December 2018, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an upgraded version of the mission during the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly elections.

[10] A scientific study published in 2021 showed that the first two phases of Mission Indradhanush increased full immunisation rates of children by 27% and on-time receipt of vaccines by 8%.