Bengaluru,  The Intensified Mission Indradhannush 3.0 (IMI 3.0) immunisation drive to vaccinate pregnant women and children against eight diseases will cover 13 districts of Karnataka from February 22 to March 22, state Health Minister K. Sudhakar said here on Saturday.

The IMI 3.0 is aimed to reach the unreached population with all the available vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) and thereby accelerate the full immunisation and complete immunisation coverage of children and pregnant women.

The IMI 3.0 will cover 13 districts of Karnataka - Bengaluru, Bengaluru Civic Body, Ballari, Bagalkote, Belagavi, Bidar, Chikkaballapur, Davangere, Gadag, Kalburgi, Koppala, Raichur and Vijayapura - Sudhakar said, adding that children below two years of age and pregnant women will be vaccinated in all the 13 districts.

"Regions with low coverage, pockets in urban areas and villages which missed routine immunisation due to Covid-19, high-risk areas such as slums, construction sites and migrant settlements will be covered in this drive," Sudhakar said.

The Indradhanush immunisation programme is aimed at inoculating all children under the age of two years, as well as all pregnant women, against eight preventable diseases.

"The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B. In addition to these, vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and Haemophilus influenzae Type B are also being provided in selected states.

"In 2016, four new additions were been made, namely Rubella, Japanese encephalitis, injectable polio vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus. In 2017, pneumonia was added to the mission by incorporating Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP)," the health department website stated.

The Indrdhanush mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, on the birthday of former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.