India’s largest vaccination campaign to eliminate measles and control rubella and congenital rubella syndrome has reached a major milestone this week with 7.72 crore children receiving protective jabs against these serious and potentially fatal diseases.

The Central government’s MR immunisation drive, launched last year to vaccinate around 41 crore children, is witnessing a sudden surge in momentum thanks to the outstanding performance by health workers and other stakeholders in the north eastern states. During a month-long drive, 100 per cent of children in Arunachal Pradesh were vaccinated against measles and rubella. And Manipur, which started the campaign only two weeks back, had already vaccinated around 3 lakh children, the ministry of health said on its official Twitter handle on April 17.

The project is in its fourth phase now and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have already achieved 100 per cent immunisation target, say official sources.

The project is funded by the Central government and technically supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNDP and Unicef. The WHO is supporting the government with micro-planning, monitoring, preparedness and implementation of the campaign for quality and safety through its National Public Health Surveillance Project.

According to a National Health Mission official, the campaign faced its biggest challenge in Arunachal Pradesh. The state has reported 1,224 cases of measles since 2014 with the number going up from 44 in 2015 to 505 in 2016 and 543 in 2017. Volunteers had to use helicopters to get the vaccines to many villages as there were no roads to reach these remote areas, she said.

Uttarakhand’s achievement also stands out. A written reply by the government in the Rajya Sabha in March showed that the state’s record in full immunisation was pathetic as only 61 per cent of children were vaccinated. But in the case of measles-rubella campaign, it has scripted a success story. “We were helped by the Unicef and other agencies in micromanaging the whole programme. The selfless role played by thousands of health workers and volunteers also can’t be forgotten,” Yugal Kishore Pant, National Health Mission Director, Government of Uttarakhand, told Pharmabiz.

“In fact, we have exceeded our goals by immunising even the migrant population,” Pant added.

All children aged between 9 months and less than 15 years are given a single shot irrespective of their previous vaccination status. The vaccine is being provided free-of-cost. After the completion of the campaign, MR vaccine will be introduced in routine immunisation and will replace measles vaccine, given at 9-12 months and 16-24 months of age of child.

Official figures reveal that there are 50,000 measles deaths every year in India while congenital rubella syndrome causes defects in hundreds of children. Measles can cause cornea-scarring blindness, encephalitis, pneumonia and diarrhoea while the congenital rubella syndrome during pregnancy can result in spontaneous abortion, stillbirth and serious birth defects.