Mysore/Mysuru: The Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 of immunising children and pregnant women against vaccine-preventable diseases began in the city this morning.

The programme aims to immunise children up to the age of five against life-threatening diseases, said officials. District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa inaugurated the programme at the District Hospital on KRS Road.

The IMI 5.0 is a big leap towards the elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and rubella and improving routine immunisation.

The programme will be conducted in three phases between Aug. 7 and Oct. 14. The first phase would be from Aug. 7 to 12, the second phase would be between Sept. 11 and 16 and the doses in the third phase would be given from Oct. 9 to 14. The camps will be held from 9 am to 5 pm, said Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra.

In Mysuru, the Mission Indradhanush will be implemented on the lines of Pulse Polio Immunisation. “The health workers and ASHA workers have identified 5,075 children from 0 to 2 years and 432 children from 2 to 5 years and the immunisation will be given at 9oo centres,” he added.

Those who skipped the vaccination earlier should come forward now and get themselves vaccinated without fail. Symptoms such as fever and spotty rashes on the face and behind the ears are generally witnessed in patients suffering from measles and rubella. A special U-Win App has been developed on the lines of CoWIN App for data collection and reporting.

“We have conducted the training of all healthcare staff for the immunisation programme. The list of expected beneficiaries has been prepared. Based on the list the micro-planning at ward level has been done,” said District Health Officer

Dr. P.C. Kumaraswamy.

The Department aims to immunise children and pregnant women in the first round, hailing from unserved, low coverage pockets in urban areas, hard to reach areas, villages that have missed routine immunisation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, high-risk areas, etc.

These include those living in areas such as urban slums with migration, brick kilns, construction sites, forest dwellers, hilly areas, vaccine-preventable disease outbreak areas, vaccine hesitancy or refusal areas, peri-urban or border areas, mohallas, etc., officers added.