Telangana 3rd in vaccine drive hit by coronavirus outbreak

HYDERABAD: At a time when the country is reeling under a Covid-19 pandemic and was in a state of lockdown from March onwards, Telangana emerged as the third successful state in universal immunisation of children.
After Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya, Telangana reported 87.8% vaccination coverage of 3,63,000 children from January to August this year.J&K (including Ladakh) recorded the highest immunisation coverage of 98.3% while second placed Meghalaya had 89.7% coverage.

During the routine immunisation programme the pentavalent vaccine (to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae), MR (Measles Rubella) vaccine and polio vaccine are administered to children.
‘Vaccination not affected in villages’
A buoyant Telangana health department said a comprehensive list was prepared to identify those who had not been vaccinated during the lockdown period as the Centre had directed states to take necessary steps to strengthen the general immunity during the pandemic.
“The vaccination programme was down for almost two months since novel coronavirus cases were registered in the state in March but had not been impacted in rural areas as most of the cases were in cities,” said an official from the state health department.
“One reason the comprehensive vaccination programme was not hampered was the government’s provision of free vehicles to transport mothers to and from hospitals,” the official added.