Measles and rubella vaccination campaign: 27.75 lakh children covered in first week

Chennai: Despite rumours doing the rounds on Whatsapp and Facebook last month urging parents not to get their children vaccinated against measles and rubella, the first week of the campaign across the state covered 27,75,000 children between the ages of 9 months and 15 years.

The campaign, a vaccine drive aimed at vaccinating 1.8 crore children in the state, commenced on February 6. Rumours, however, threatened the campaign to eliminate the disease that kills 46,000 children, mostly under-5, each year.
“Despite the Health Department having dismissed the rumours as and when they arose, many parents were still apprehensive over the course of the first week and our volunteers had to answer many questions in different parts of the state. It was, however, managed well,” said Dr. Kulandaisamy, director, department of public health,

The first week, with the exception of Friday which was National De-worming Day, served its purpose of vaccinating children as well as educating the public on the importance of vaccination. “We have advised volunteers to refrain from hurrying merely to achieve our goal of covering 1.8 crore children. We have asked them to take time out to educate the people as well,” he said.

“Parents of the children who were vaccinated are now acting as messengers - encouraging others, by telling them that there is nothing to fear as it is a simple injection. Word of mouth is the best education,” said another health official.