NEWSPost India

Gorakhpur, Nov 20 (PTI) A massive vaccination drive to curb the menace of Japanese Encephalitis will be launched in the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh from November 27, a senior health official said here today. Around 70 lakhs vaccine doses will be administered to children under the age of 15, he said.

It will be launched in Gorakhpur, Mahrajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthanagar and Sant Kabir Nagar districts, where Japanese Encephalitis cases are frequent, the Additional Director (health) of Gorakhpur and Basti division U K Srivastava said. The officers of Joint Director rank from the state headquarter will be deployed to monitor cold chain and the quality of vaccine, he said, adding that the programme was earlier scheduled to be launched in May-June this year, but it was postponed owing to the poor quality of vaccines sent by the centre.

Meanwhile, the toll due to various forms of encephalitis has reached 501 this year in the region, with five more deaths reported during the past four days. Of the toll, about 15 per cent cases were of confirmed Japanese Encephalitis, while rest were of water-borne encephalitis, Srivastava said, adding that more than 150 patients are still undergoing treatment in BRD medical college here.

Meanwhile fogging drive has also begun here today to control mosquitoes. It may be noted that Japanese Encephalitis spreads by the bite of mosquitoes.