Jaipur, March 17 -- Rajasthan has recorded a sharp rise in vaccination coverage over the past three decades, with full immunisation increasing from just 21% in the early 1990s to nearly 91.8% in 2024-25, reflecting major improvements in the state's public health system. According to the state government, effective implementation of the routine immunisation programme has significantly strengthened protection for children and pregnant women against life-threatening diseases. The programme provides vaccines to children from birth up to 16 years of age as well as expectant mothers. Medical and health minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar said that as per the 1992-93 National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the full immunisation rate in Rajasthan was only 21.1%. This increased to 80.4% by the NFHS-5 survey (2020-21) and further rose to around 91.8% in 2024-25. He said the improvement represents not just statistical progress but a life-saving impact for lakhs of mothers and children. The rise in immunisation coverage has also contributed to a steady decline in maternal and infant mortality rates in the state, placing Rajasthan in a better position than the national average. Principal secretary, Medical and Health, Gayatri Rathore said that under the immunisation programme, children receive 10 different vaccines that protect against about 11 serious diseases. These include BCG, Hepatitis-B, Pentavalent, Polio, Rotavirus, PCV, Measles-Rubella, IPV, DPT booster and TD vaccines. Pregnant women are also administered the TD vaccine to prevent tetanus and diphtheria. Officials said vaccination coverage has steadily improved in recent years. Full immunisation stood at 83.3% in 2021-22, increased to 85.2% in 2022-23 and reached 88.2% in 2023-24 before climbing to 91.8% in 2024-25. Over the past five years alone, coverage has grown by nearly 7-8 percentage points, reflecting stronger health management, regular vaccination sessions, the active role of anganwadi centres and growing community awareness. The state has also reported encouraging coverage across individual vaccines in 2025-26 (till February 2026), including about 89% for TD, 86% for BCG, 88.8% for OPV-3, around 91.9% for Pentavalent-3 and nearly 90.6% for Measles-Rubella. Health officials said the immunisation programme has been strengthened over time by the inclusion of new vaccines. Pentavalent vaccine was introduced in 2014, IPV in 2016, Rotavirus vaccine in 2017 and PCV was gradually rolled out from 2018,...