India reports a record 93% DPT3 immunization coverage in 2022: WHO

Source: The post is based on the article “India reports a record 93% DPT3 immunization coverage in 2022: WHO”  published in The Hindu b19th July 2023

What is the News?

The WHO and UNICEF estimates for national immunization coverage for 2022 has been released recently.

As per the estimate, the coverage rate for DPT3 vaccine in India rose to an all-time high of 93% in 2022.This has surpassed the previous pre-pandemic best of 91% recorded in 2019.

What is DPT3 Vaccine?

The DPT vaccine or DTP vaccine is a class of combination vaccines against three infectious diseases in humans: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus.

The vaccine components include diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and either kill whole cells of the bacterium that causes pertussis or pertussis antigens.

Note: Toxoid vaccines use a toxin (harmful product) made by the germ that causes a disease. They create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause a disease instead of the germ itself. 

What does WHO and UNICEF say about the DPT3 vaccination coverage in the South-East Asia Region?

In the WHO South-East Asia Region, the coverage rate for DPT3 vaccine recovered to the pre-pandemic level of 91%, a sharp increase from the 82% recorded in 2021.

The number of zero-dose children (those that have not received even the first dose of DPT vaccine) halved to 2.3 million in 2022 from 4.6 million in 2021.

Similarly, the number of partially vaccinated children (those that have received at least one dose of DPT vaccine but did not complete the primary series of three doses) reduced to 6.5 lakh in 2022 from 1.3 million in 2021.

The region had the best immunization recoveries among all the WHO regions.This can be majorly attributed to the efforts being made by India and Indonesia.