: With five States in the country hoping to launch a massive measles-rubella (MR) vaccination drive to cover children above nine months and below 15 years of age from February, questions have been raised about the immunisation drive in schools.
The project was to be initially rolled out in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, as a public health move implemented through schools and camps. But issues have cropped up as some parents of students in private schools haveexpressed apprehensions about re-vaccinating their children, even if they have been vaccinated with the older version of the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine earlier.
In Karnataka, parents have decided that they would not consent to this injection as they feel that the drive is “forced re-immunisation”. Gayathri Ananth, founder of The Vigilant Citizen Group said many of the parents had decided not to vaccinate their children.
The State government, however, insisted that “the fears of parents are baseless and we need to ensure that we cover all students so that the drive is successful. We will carry out more campaigns to ensure that we are able to convince parents.”
Manilal Carvalho, principal, Delhi Public School Bengaluru East said the school had drafted a note with FAQs, which would be circulated among parents, but it was their call, ultimately.
Implementation doubts
In Tamil Nadu too, some opposition is seen from parents, though perhaps not on the scale as witnessed in the neighbouring State. Here, there is some confusion on the implementation of the project. “We are yet to receive any official information from the Health Department on whether we should have the drive compulsorily. Some of us feel it is better if the parents accompany their children to get the vaccination done as they will be better informed about the child’s medical history,” the principal of a private school said.
“For my son, the school has sent a consent form and they have not told us that it is compulsory. Based on the number of forms received, the school will go ahead and is expected to make a request with the number of vaccines,” said Sangeetha Muralidharan, whose son studies in Class 3 in a private school in the city.
Meanwhile, the State is concerned about rumours circulating on Whatsapp about the vaccination drive. "The national-level committee and the State health department would not introduce anything without verifying its safety. The MR vaccine is proven to be safe. Reputed international agencies such as WHO and Unicef are actively associated with this campaign,” health secretary J. Radhakrishnan said.
In Puducherry, Chief MinisterV. Narayanasamy told a press conference on Saturday that immunisation with MR vaccine would not be forced on children in the Union Territory, after he received representations from parents, complaining that schools were forcing them to go for the shots.
