New Delhi, 28 June (IANS). A recent study published in Lancet magazine included India in eight countries where zero-dose children (ie children who are deprived of regular vaccines) are more.
The central government said on Saturday that it is necessary to keep in mind the large population and vaccination rate of India. The government said that India’s vaccination coverage is better than the global average.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has made remarkable progress in vaccination. In 2023, the first dose (Penta-1) of diphtheria-tetanus-pirtusis (DTP) vaccine (Penta-1) was 93 percent, with 2.47 crore vaccinated out of 2.65 crore infants. This is much higher than 70 percent of Nigeria.
The dropout rate from DTP-1 to DTP-3 declined from 7 percent in 2013 to 2 percent in the year 2023. The coverage of measles vaccine also increased from 83 percent of 2013 to 93 percent in 2023.
According to the WUENIC report of the year 2023, the number of zero-dose children was 0.11 percent of India’s total population, which declined to 0.06 percent in 2024. It is much lower than Yemen (1.68 percent), Sudan (1.45 percent), Angola (1.1 percent), Afghanistan (1.1 percent), Nigeria (0.98 percent), DR Congo (0.82 percent), Ethiopia (0.72 percent), Indonesia (0.23 percent), and Pakistan (0.16 percent).
The ministry said that it is wrong to compare India’s large population and vaccination rate.
According to the Lancet study, in the year 2023, more than half of the world’s 1.57 crore non-determined children were in eight countries, including India. But India showed its commitment by abolishing Polio (2014) and maternal-native tetanus (2015) as well as Khasra-Rubella campaign in 2025.
The ministry said that India’s vaccination program is an example globally, as has also been accepted in the United Nations 2024 report.
-IANS
MT/KR