The Health Department is aiming to cover 9.8 lakh children aged between nine months and 15 years in Vellore district during a State-wide mass drive from February 6 to 28 to administer Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine .
In the first phase, school-going children aged within 15 years will be vaccinated. All government, government-aided and private schools will be covered.
Children aged between nine months and five years and those who missed the drive in schools will be administered the vaccine in the second phase at area-wise health sub-centres and anganwadi centres.
In the third phase, children, who missed the vaccination, would be covered. Children of migrant families working in brick kilns and construction sites and those living in special camps and in inaccessible areas will be covered through special teams, a press release said.
“The aim of this drive is to achieve 95 per cent immunity level. The objective is to eliminate measles and rubella by 2020,” K.S.T. Suresh, deputy director of health services, Vellore said.
He added that parents need not worry about the safety of the MR vaccine as it has been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“It is being introduced after the approval of National Technical Advisory Group on immunisation in five States and a Union Territory. Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is not new and it is already on the immunisation schedule of Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) and is administered by private doctors. The components are not new,” he explained.
The rationale behind conducting a mass campaign in a phased manner was factors such as vaccine production and storage.
K.V. Arulalan, consultant paediatrician, said parents were seeking clarifications about the MR vaccine, especially if their children had already received the MMR vaccine.
“When an entire society takes the vaccine within a short span of time, the herd immunity goes up, and the disease will disappear subsequently. For instance, in the pulse polio immunisation campaign, children are immunised on the same day, and this way, the community’s immunity goes up,” he explained.
Quoting international and national journals, Dr. Arulalan pointed out that in 2013 alone, 14 lakh children died due to measles across the globe. “To explain it a little further, 16 children died of measles each hour. One of every two children is an Indian,” he said.
Silent disease
“Rubella is a silent disease like most viral diseases. But when it affects pregnant women, the results are beyond comprehension. Infants are born with cataract, hearing problem, hole in the heart and worse, delayed mental development,” he said.
Citing statistics, he said one in five physically disabled persons test positive for rubella, while one-third of adolescent girls and women in India also test positive. “Our country does not have the facility for rehabilitation for these children and so prevention is our best bet,” he said.
Currently, as per IAP recommendation, MMR vaccine was administered to children at nine months and 15 months of age in the private sector, he said.
“MR vaccine is safe and should be taken compulsorily. The programme comes after several rounds of research and discussion,” he added.
