98% Children Immunised in India But its Cost Varies Immensely From State to State, Finds Survey

The cost of immunisation of children in India from state to state varies greatly — by a factor of 100 at its peak when one considers the cost of a child to be immunised in Haryana (Rs 493) and to be immunised in Tripura (Rs 5). Even in the neighbouring states, the cost can vary from Rs 64 in Uttarakhand to Rs 203 in the neighbouring hilly state of Himachal Pradesh, a recently released survey done by the National Sample Survey (NSS) has found. The average cost of immunisation of a child in India was estimated to be Rs 251.

Among all states and Union Territories, Manipur has the best record in immunisation of children. The survey also threw up some other surprising results: Only 4.7 per cent boys were fully immunised in the national capital Delhi's rural areas, only 9.3 per cent children were immunised in rural Nagaland and, at the all-India level, girl children (60 per cent) were more fully covered by immunisation drives than boys (58.5 per cent).

According to its 'Health in India' report for the period between July 2017 and June 2018, Manipur has fully immunised, i.e. given all the eight prescribed vaccines to three-fourths of all its children. Nagaland, on the other hand, fared the worst in this parameter. Only 12.8 per cent of its children were reported to be fully immunised in the survey.

In eight states and one Union Territory, of the total 28 states and eight UTs sampled for this survey, over 70 per cent children below the age of five were reported to be fully immunised. These states were Manipur (75.1 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (73.6 per cent), Haryana (72.1 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (72 per cent), Kerala (72.8 per cent), Mizoram (73.4 per cent), Telangana (70.1 per cent), Uttarakhand (70.5 per cent) and Lakshadweep (70.2 per cent).

The places that came at the bottom of the list, apart from Nagaland, were Puducherry (34.1 per cent) and Tripura (39.6 per cent). A child is considered fully immunised only after receiving all the eight vaccines - BCG, OPV-1, OPV-2, OPV-3, DPT-1, DPT-2, DPT-3, and measles vaccine.

The health survey also furnished a report of states where children below five years of age had received any one or more of these vaccines. According to this, states like Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Jharkhand had reported 100 per cent immunisation and India, overall, reported 98 per cent immunisation. A total of 5.5 lakh people were surveyed across 28 states and eight UTs for ‘Health in India’ report.