MR drive to kick-start from May 1

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 25

Keeping in view the summer vacations in schools, the Health Department is all set to start the measles-rubella campaign from May 1 to eliminate measles and control of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in the country.

Ludhiana Civil Surgeon Dr Parvinder Pal Singh Sidhu said already three phases of MR vaccination campaign have been completed in 13 states covering around seven to eight crore children with this vaccine safely while Punjab is being covered in Phase 4.

He further said auto-disable syringes are used for vaccination of each child. “These syringes are rendered non-usable after single use. All vaccinators are highly skilled health workers who administer vaccinations to the children in routine immunisation in large numbers regularly following the best injection and waste disposal practices,” said Dr Sidhu.

The campaign will be carried out in the educational institutes and kids falling in the age group of nine months to 15 years will be vaccinated during the drive. There will be no door-to-door vaccination. The child should have eaten something before the vaccination is to be given.

The private schools will be covered first because vacations start early in some schools and after covering the private schools, focus will then be on government schools, crèches, and aanganwadis. The campaign and vaccines will be administered only at schools in four weeks. The department is also planning for ‘Super Sundays’ during which camps will be held and the families where both the parents are working can get the child immunised.

The District Immunisation Officer, Dr Jasbir Singh, said, measles and rubella are highly contagious viral diseases that are spread by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing. Infection with measles is followed by high fever, a rash that spreads over the body, cough, running nose and red watery eyes. Rubella is a mild viral infection that occurs most often in children and young adults. Infection with rubella is followed by rash and low fever. Rubella infection during pregnancy can cause abortion, stillbirth and may lead to multiple birth defects in the newborn; like blindness, deafness, heart defects; known as Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS).

Dr Gagandeep Sharma from World Health Organisation (WHO) telling about the vaccine said that the Measles-Rubella vaccine is safe. Most children who get MR vaccine do not have any serious problems with it. “The Vaccine is WHO certified and there is Vaccine Vial Monitor (VVM) on top of each vial which indicates the quality of the vaccine given. Every child will be kept under observation for 30 minutes after vaccination,” he said.

Does a child need MR vaccination dose even if she/he has had two doses of measles containing vaccine through her/his routine vaccinations?

Yes, the child needs the additional dose being administered during the MR vaccination campaign. The vaccination campaign dose is given to all targeted children, irrespective of prior measles-rubella immunisation status or disease status.

If the child has received one dose of the vaccine, should he/she receive the routine dose ?

Yes, the child should receive both routine doses of MR vaccines at 9-12 months and 16-24 months of age, irrespective of any MR vaccination campaign dose in the past.

Who can and cannot receive the MR vaccine during the campaign:

Children with minor illnesses such as mild respiratory infection, diarrhoea, and low-grade fever can be vaccinated.

The road map for the vaccination 

As many as 488 vaccination teams and 163 supervisors have been deployed to cover about 2,989 schools conducting nearly 4,656 vaccination sessions in district. 

When and where can a child be vaccinated

The campaign will run for one month. During the first two weeks, schools will be covered. The next one week will be for outreach camps for those kids who due to some reason missed the vaccine or are not going to school. The next week will be a ‘sweep week’ in which been left out kids will be vaccinated. 

-Do not vaccinate if the child has a high fever or another serious disease (eg: unconscious, convulsions, )