Following the state’s inability to immunise newborn children in last three years, seven high-risk districts will go in for second phase of the Japanese Encephalitis mass vaccination soon.

The JE vaccination is administered once in a lifetime and a mass campaign in eastern UP had already taken place in 2006.

The decision for fresh campaign has been recently taken after the two-day review by the high-level delegation sent to Gorakhpur by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Besides visiting BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, and meeting the patients, the team also met the chief medical officers of all the affected districts of eastern UP. Sources said the delegation lead by Shakuntala D Gamblin, Joint

Secretary, Ministry of Health, found lacunae in the routine immunsiation coverage because of which large number of children were not immunised in the last three years. The move has been welcomed by health experts, who were demanding the second round of mass vaccination in eastern Uttar Pradesh for long to protect the children between 1-4 years.

The vaccination will also mean an additional burden of around Rs 20 crore on the government. “It could have been avoided if there was proper routine immunisation in Uttar Pradesh. However, now it has become a necessity,” said a senior official.

Officials said the fresh mass immunisation is likely to take place in January-February 2010 and will require around 1 crore doses of JE vaccine to be imported from China, and the government will have to place an additional order for import of vaccines.

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