In a written appeal to guardians of students who have been left out in the Measels-Rubella vaccination drive at various schools, District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla has called upon parents to get their wards vaccinated at the earliest.
While the government has extended the deadline for the vaccination drive, which began on October 3, and has directed all district authorities to cover at least 95% of the targeted population, a personal letter from the administrative head of the district is expected to make guardians realise the importance that the government attaches to having a generation of healthy children.
Keeping a child unimmunised not only leaves him or her unprotected but also provides a window for illnesses to spread to adults, says the letter.
The Collector also appealed to guardians to get their doubts about vaccination cleared by medical personnel and health workers at the nearest government healthcare centres and get their children immunised.
Meanwhile, the district health authorities and officials of the National Health Mission (NHM) are organising awareness sessions on MR vaccination.
Dr. P.N.N. Pisharody, expert panellist of the NHM district unit, speaking at a programme at Hidayathul Islam Higher Secondary School, Edathala, said modern medicine had arrived at vaccinations through evidence-based research, and that people should ignore all rumours about them.
