The Measles Rubella vaccine drive in the State has achieved over 96% coverage, said Director of Public Health K. Kolandaisamy on Friday, the last day of the campaign.
The MR vaccine campaign, which began on February 6, ran into trouble with several rumours circulating on social media, leading to apprehension and opposition among parents and schools. What began as a four-week drive was then extended to March as well, and after several programmes held with school principals and support from doctors’ organisations, Dr. Kolandaisamy said, parents began to come forward to vaccinate their children.
From April, the vaccine will be given as part of the routine immunisation coverage given to all children and will be available at primary health centres and government hospitals on the routine days of immunisation, he said.
The department will also collect data of all children given the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) in the months of February and March.
Next, will be a coverage evaluation survey, a sero survey to check the antibody levels among the population as well as a surveillance of congenital rubella syndrome among the population. “These surveys will be conducted by agencies such as the WHO and Unicef along with the government of India. We will provide logistical support,” he said.
The surveys will help establish if enough children have been vaccinated. to help eventually eradicate the measles and rubella vaccines from the community, which was the aim of the vaccination campaign.
State president, Indian Academy of Paediatrics, S. Thirumalai Kolundu, said there had been a vast improvement in the last few weeks. “Parents were able to understand that the vaccine is completely safe. Many schools even contacted campaign officials asking them to come a second time to immunise children” he said.
