As conspiracy theories are served on the social media targeting gullible parents, the district administration, local bodies, and Health Department officials are scaling up efforts to get all targeted children in the district vaccinated against measles and rubella (MR) during the ongoing Statewide MR campaign.
The district administration, district panchayat, and Kannur Corporation are all set to rev up grass-roots level campaign, especially in areas where the MR campaign has faced resistance from parents. As the resistance is stronger in the Muslim community, religious and community leaders of the community are also being taken on board to achieve the targeted vaccination coverage. Health personnel and school authorities are facing an uphill task amid social media campaign against the vaccination as the district’s vaccination coverage as on October 21 is only 37.16%. While Pathanamthitta remains the topper with 72.15%, the vaccination coverage in Malappuram (24.11%), Kozhikode (31.72%), and Kannur are worryingly low.
Trust the doctor
“Parents should trust medical fraternity over WhatsApp,” District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali told a press conference here on Monday to explain the steps to beef up awareness campaigns to clear people’s misunderstandings and doubts concerning the vaccination administered through school-level camps. He said that two cases of misinformation were identified and transferred to the police to probe. The second phase awareness drive on the vaccination would begin this week, he added.
Health Department officials informed at the press meet that of the 5,78,358 targeted children in the nine months-15 years age group in the district, 2,14,924 were so far vaccinated during school camps. They also said that the camps were completed in 814 schools out of the 1,789 schools in the district. Outreach vaccination programmes would be held to cover children who were not covered by school camps.
Negative campaign
“The negative campaign against MR vaccine is strong in some areas,” said district panchayat president K.V. Sumesh at the press meet. One message being circulated urged parents not to vaccinate girls because the vaccine would damage their reproductive capacity, while another warned that the vaccine would change the behavioural pattern of children, he said. There was also an incident of a teacher being nearly manhandled by a parent for persuading his child to take the vaccine, he added.
Kannur Corporation Mayor E.P. Latha said that the Corporation would take concerted awareness initiatives in areas where vaccination coverage was less than 35%. Madrassa teachers and parent-teacher associations would be roped in, she said. Special grama sabhas would be held on October 25 to explain about the importance of MR vaccine. District administration representatives would visit the areas, where the coverage was not satisfactory, on October 27 to clear people’s doubts.
District Medical Officer Narayana Nayak and Reproductive Child Health Officer P.M. Jyothi were among those present at the press meet.
