Bhubaneswar: Adding another feather to the state’s successes in the field of healthcare services, a newest UNICEF report has said that Odisha’s immunization coverage is among the highest in the India. The UNICEF Flagship Report highlights new data on India’s gains in vaccines confidence amidst large scale decline of confidence in childhood vaccines following COVID-19 pandemic. The UNICEF report also shows that India is one of the 3 countries, out of 55 countries surveyed, where confidence for children’s vaccines has increased.
Odisha got special place in the UNICEF report, which said that “In Odisha, immunization coverage has been note-worthy, with 90.5 percent of children fully immunized which is significantly higher than the national average of 76.4 percent as per NFHS 5. This has been possible due to unique initiatives by the Government of Odisha to immunize children in hard-to-reach areas and encouraging the participation of community through Panchayati Raj institutions and self-help groups, especially in low-coverage areas. As a result, 20 out of the state’s 30 districts have achieved more than 90 percent of full immunization coverage.
Odisha’s high immunization rates are despite the significant challenges posed by the state’s hilly terrain and forest cover, especially in 144 tribal blocks and 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) residing in areas with non-motorable roads and seasonally cut-off villages. To ensure full immunization, people were motivated through special immunization campaigns ensuring frontline workers travel to remote pockets and families are reached for immunization.
The state government’s investment to ensure an efficient cold chain system to maintain the potency and effectiveness of vaccines throughout the state has also been acknowledged as a driver for high quality of immunization coverage in Odisha.