CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Wednesday launched the expansion of the Japanese Encephalitis vaccination scheme to seven more districts, including Chennai.
The camps, targeting 27 lakh children, will be conducted in three phases. Launching the vaccination scheme at Girls’ Higher Secondary School at Shenoy Nagar in Chennai, Subramanian said one dose of the JE vaccine will be administered to children aged 1 to 15 years in high-risk districts.
The JE vaccination programme has now been expanded to the other 13 zones of Chennai as well as Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Nagapattinam and Vellore.
The camps will be conducted in three phases in schools, anganwadis and in orphanages and juvenile reform schools for 12 days on Mondays, Thursdays and Friday.
The school vaccination camps will be held from August 13 to September 12 in all government and government-aided schools for children aged 5-15 years. Anganwadi vaccination camps will be conducted for children of 1 to 5 years age groups from September 13 to October 12.
In orphanages and juvenile reform schools, the camps will be held from October 13 to November 12 for all children aged 1 to 15 years. After each phase, one week will be used for covering children targeted in the respective phase who were missed out.
Due to the high mortality rate and morbidity of the disease, the government planned to implement the vaccination camps in districts where JE is endemic, the minister said.