New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) India’s population, which is multiple times higher than several nations, has not been taken into account while comparing children vaccination data with 19 other countries in the latest WHO and UNICEF estimates of national immunization coverage (WUENIC), official sources said.
They asserted that India is steadfast in its commitment to reduce the zero dose children.
“Even though India has the second highest zero dose children in the world, these account for 0.11 per cent of the country’s total population,” Union health ministry sources said on Tuesday.
The sources were reacting to the WUENIC data released on Monday which stated that India had the second highest number of children, nearly 16 lakh, who did not receive any vaccine in 2023, and was preceded by Nigeria which had the most number of zero-dose children at 21 lakh in the same year.
“The comparison is flawed as the base population has not been taken into consideration,” they said.
The WUENIC data showed that India’s rank improved from 2021 when the country had recorded the most number of zero-dose kids globally at 27.3 lakh.
The sources said the antigen wise coverage of India is better than that of the world average for all antigens for the year 2023.
They said India’s DPT 1 (Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine) — proxy for zero dose — is 93 per cent whereas the global average is 89 per cent.
“Thus India is 4 per cent better than the world,” the sources said.
India’s DPT3 — proxy for under vaccinated — is 91 per cent whereas the global average is 84 per cent. Thus, India is 7 per cent better than the world. Besides, India’s MCV1 (Measles zero dose) is 92 per cent whereas the global average is 83 per cent.
“Thus, India is 10 per cent better than the world,” the sources said.
All efforts are being made to reach these zero dose children. A special zero dose plan has been made and it is under implementation, the health ministry sources stated.
In the WUENIC data, other countries following India are Ethiopia, Congo, Sudan, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Angola, Pakistan, Somalia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Mexico, South Africa, Mali, DPRK, China, Guinea and Myanmar.
These 20 countries were prioritised in the context of the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), based on their number of zero-dose children in 2021.
China is 18th on the list of top 20 zero-dose countries rank, while Pakistan is at the 10th position.
Among the countries ranked by the number of zero-dose children, ROSA, 2021-2023, India ranked number 1 out of 8 countries with 1,592,000 zero-dose children.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday called on countries in the South-East Asia Region to further strengthen efforts at all levels, with tailored approaches at sub-national levels, to identify and immunize unvaccinated and under vaccinated children. PTI PLB KSS KSS
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