1Post Graduate student, Department of Community Medicine, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute
2Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute
3Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute
Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions that currently avert an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year globally. In 1974 the WHO launched its “expanded programme on immunisation against six most common, preventable childhood diseases. Universal immunisation programme was started in India in 1985.India has one of the largest immunization programmes in the world, in terms of number of beneficiaries, geographical coverage and quantities of vaccine used, with nearly 26 million new born babies targeted for immunization each year. Over 9 million immunization sessions are held every year across the country.it is generally agreed that when immunisation coverage reaches a figure of 80 percent or more, then disease transmission patterns are so severely disrupted as to provide a degree of protection even for remaining children who have not been immunised because of herd immunity.
