Over 17,000 students vaccinated against diphtheria in Kozhikode district

The school-level vaccination drive to immunise the non-immunised or partially immunised students in the 10-17 age group against diphtheria has covered more than 17,000 students so far in the district.

These students might have been given only the primary dose (up to the age of five). Or, they might not have got this primary dose and the booster dose at the age of 10.

Similar cases among adults, including parents of these students, have also been covered in a house-to-house drive.

Launched around July 20 by the State government as a special measure to check the spread of diphtheria in Kozhikode, it has covered 39,615 people, of whom 17,040 are students, an official involved in the process said on Monday.

Of the 98 cases of diphtheria reported in the district so far, 60 per cent were adults. A sizeable chunk of these persons might have been born before the launch of the national immunisation programme in the 80s. And, there could be cases of young adults who were partially immunised or not immunised at all because their parents resisted vaccination.

As for covering the students, from the initial method of school-to-school immunisation, the health teams are into covering clusters of houses and schools. This ensures that the vulnerable adults are not left out, the official said.

For instance, if an adult or an adolescent tests positive or shows clear clinical symptoms of diphtheria, this person and the rest of the family are first immunised. A hundred houses around this family are brought under the drive for vaccination status check and immunisation of adults and children.

Then the health team goes to the school where these children study and carries out a ring survey to identify their daily close contacts, in order to immunise them too. This way, children and adults are immunised in a simultaneous school and neighbourhood coverage, the official explained.

The process will continue for long as the original target of the programme is to check the vaccination status of 2.5 lakh students in the 10-17 age group in 430 schools.