Immunization

Although the pandemic has affected economic activities across Jammu and Kashmir but the health worker always remain front foot in terms of vaccinating people against the deadly infection. Simultaneously, the have not halted other health programmes like immunization and this was revealed in National Family Health Survey-5 (NHFS-5) as over 86 percent of children aged between 12-23 months in Jammu and Kashmir have received all basic vaccinations against six major childhood illnesses.The vaccination against six major childhood illnesses includes Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, and measles. Vaccinations were recorded from a vaccination card for a large majority (86%) of children, which is a slight increase since NHFS-4, which was conducted in 2015-16. Whereas NHFS-5, the latest publication, was done from 2019-21.Since the first health survey, Jammu and Kashmir have seen an immense improvement in trends in vaccination coverage of children in all basic vaccinations. In NHFS-1 (1992-93) 57 percent of children, in NHFS-2 (1998-99) 67 percent of children, in NHFS-3 (2005-06) 75 percent of children, in NHFS-4 (2015-16) 75 percent of children and in NHFS-5 (2019-21) 86% of children aged between 12-23 months in Jammu and Kashmir have received all basic vaccinations against childhood illness.As per the NHFS-5, ninety-five children have received a BCG vaccination. However, 88 percent have received the recommended three doses of the polio vaccine, 93 percent have received the three recommended doses of DPT of Penta vaccine, and 92 percent have been vaccinated against measles.Further, there has been a dropout between the first and third doses of the DPT vaccine (from 95 % to 93 %) and polio vaccine from (94% to 88%).Between NHFS-4 and NHFS-5, there was an increase in vaccination coverage for three doses of DPT from 88% to 93% and measles from 86% to 92%. The coverage for three doses of the polio vaccine also increased, from 84 percent to 88 percent.Overall, there was an encouraging change in all the basic vaccinations coverage from 75 percent to 86 percent. The coverage of the BCG vaccine has declined by one percentage point from NHFS-4 to NFHS-5 from 96% to 95%.In addition, ninety-four percent of children have received at least one dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, and 91 percent of children have received all three recommended doses of the hepatitis B vaccine.As per the NHFS-5, the coverage with all basic vaccinations is higher for girls than boys (88% versus 85%) and for rural than urban areas (87% versus 83%). Coverage with all basic vaccinations is higher among children from scheduled caste, 95 percent, than children from any other caste/tribe groups.