The district has topped in the measles-rubella vaccination coverage in the State by vaccinating nearly three lakh children in the past nine days since the campaign began, an official release quoting the District Programme Manager, National Health Mission (NHM), J. Swapnakumari, said.
Till date, 2,80,573 children in the district have been administered the measles-rubella vaccine.
The district is targetting measles-rubella vaccination for 6,34,771 children in the nine months -15 years age group
Of this, 45,909 children are aged below five years, 1,04,992 children are between 5 - 10 years and 1,29,672 children are between 10-15 years.
Of all the children vaccinated, 1,38,366 are boys and 1,42,207 are girls.
From next week, vaccination campaign will be extended to anganwadis, play schools and kindergartens. Some parents who were initially reluctant to vaccinate their children are now coming forward expressing their willingness. In all schools where vaccinations were completed, health workers have completed a mop up round to vaccinate those children who had missed out on the vaccination on the designated day.
The official release said that most parents were dismissive of the anti-vaccination messages that were being circulated. In most schools, PTAs themselves, along with the Principal and designated teachers, were making all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the vaccination.
Along with the Education Department, local self governments, CBSE and ICSE school managements were also providing necessary support to the campaign.
The representatives of WHO and UNICEF visited several schools in the district.
As part of the measles-rubella vaccination campaign, voice messages from Health Minister K. K. Shylaja, is being sent out to the mobile phones of parents, requesting them to protect their children through vaccination.
Already, some 25,000 persons have received the voice message.
The voice message campaign is being carried out by the NHM, in association with Reliance Foundation, to counter the anti-vaccination propaganda.
