The Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine has initiated steps to ensure vaccination facilities on all Wednesdays in all 4,848 health and wellness centres (HWC) in rural areas and 500 HWCs in urban areas with the available health staff to improve vaccination coverage and to reduce drop-outs.
This will be in addition to the existing outreach sessions, according to a press release issued in line with the National Vaccination Day 2025, observed on March 16.
Tamil Nadu started the Expanded Programme on Immunisation against six vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) in 1978 and further strengthened it as Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) in 1985. Under the UIP, 11 vaccines are provided to children and pregnant women against 12 VPDs. Every year, around 9.58 lakh pregnant women and 8.76 lakh children/infants are covered under the programme, T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health, said in the release.
The efforts of the public health staff has contributed to a consistent immunisation coverage of over 98% in the State, with an average coverage of 1.4 crore vaccine doses per year, he added.
Immunisation sessions are conducted both as institutional and outreach services in the State — institutional services on all days of the week in medical college hospitals/government hospitals and on every Wednesday in Primary Health Centres/Urban Primary Health Centres, and outreach immunisation services in all villages and towns in identified anganwadis and public places.
At present, 33 private empanelled hospitals are registered under eVIN (electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network) and U-WIN (portal for monitoring routine immunisation of children and pregnant women). Vaccine utilisation is monitored through eVIN and immunisation performance of empanelled hospitals are monitored through U-WIN.
In Tamil Nadu, all pregnant women are administered the Td (tetanus-diphtheria) vaccine — first dose at the time of registration and second dose after a month. A booster shot is administered if previous pregnancy occurred within the last three years to prevent tetanus and diphtheria. Infants receive 20 vaccine doses before the age of one. During the second year, children receive four doses in all. From five to six years, children are provided with a second booster dose of DPT vaccine and at the age of 10 and 16, they receive the Td vaccine.
On National Vaccination Day, the directorate requested people to support/ensure age-appropriate vaccination for children and pregnant women as per the National Immunisation Schedule available on the website of the directorate (www.tndphpm.com), which is available free of cost in all government institutions and at all outreach sessions. This was to protect pregnant women and children from VPDs such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenzae, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, rubella, rota virus, pneumococcal, and Japanese encephalitis.
On the occasion, A. Arun Thamburaj, Mission Director, National Health Mission, Tamil Nadu, along with Dr. Selvavinayagam and other public health officials released Information Education and Communication posters and a video aimed at strengthening U-WIN activities in the State.
Published – March 18, 2025 12:19 am IST