No Vaccine Against All This Apathy

In Rural Uttar Pradesh, The Central Government’s Immunisation Programme Needs A Reality Check

- Arushi Bedi

SITTING in her small house in Kotana village in Baghpat district of western Uttar Pradesh, 25­year­old Ruby tells the local Anganwadi worker yet again that she won’t vaccinate her 16­ day ­old son as her husband has refused permission. this is the third visit by Beena Devi, the Ang­anwadi worker of the area, to Ruby’s home in the Muslim basti of the vil­lage. Under the government’s Univer­sal immunisation Programme (UiP), she is required to make calls at and inquire about all newborn children and keep track of the immunisation schedule of each child. it is a task that has proven to be almost unachievable in most parts of state.

The universal immunisation programme under the government of India aims to immunise all newborns and children up to the age of 16. According to World Bank data, the under-5 child mortality rate in India is 48 children per 1,000 births. Vaccination is the most cost-effective intervention available to reduce deaths due to preventable diseases.

In India, over 85 per cent of all immunisation is done free of cost under the government programme. This is done in the villages with the help of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Anganwadi workers along with primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs).

Ruby’s case is just one of many similar examples. Ruby had gone to the local Anganwadi and taken the two vaccines pregnant women are supposed to take under the programme, but, after her son was born, her husband refused to let the newborn be vaccinated. “That was because several WhatsApp messages have been circulating that say the government is trying to make Muslim children sterile through vaccination,” says Ruby. According to Beena Devi, one of the two resident Anganwadi workers in Kotana village, the rumours were possible only because there is lack of awareness about the immunisation programme.