Rumours mar vaccination drive, govt warns of action

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 1

Inaugurating a measles-rubella vaccine drive, in which nearly 73.50 lakh children between 9 months and 15 years will be vaccinated in schools and primary health centres in the state, Health and Family Welfare Minister Brahm Mohindra on Tuesday warned of legal action against those sending messages advising people to boycott the drive.

During the week before its launch, the drive is rocked by rumours and fake alerts.

“We have got reports that there has been a flood of messages on the social media urging parents not to send their children to schools for vaccination,” said the minister.

It was an anti-social and misleading activity by people with vested interests, he said, warning of action against such persons. However, the fake alerts on social media, which include texts and audio clips, made a perceptible impact on the first day of the drive.

Most of the government schools in the district recorded low attendance on Tuesday. The attendance of students was 20 to 30 per cent less in schools. Some parents also reached school to ask teachers not to administer vaccine to their children.

The Health Department on Tuesday organised MR vaccination camps in schools. Saying that about 9,000 children were given vaccination in the district on Tuesday, Rajinder Kumar, Civil Surgeon, Faridkot, said the Health Department teams faced difficulty in some villages due to these rumours.

The impact of rumours was more in rural and slum areas. At Government Primary School, Pacca village, 26 of the total 132 students remained absent. At Government Middle School, Sanjay Nagar, Faridkot, 33 students of total 125 did not attend the school. At government school in Bazigar Basti, where 24 of total 184 students remained absent, over 30 parents reached the school, asking the authorities not to vaccinate their children. Many parents even gave in writing, disapproving of vaccination.

The minister urged parents to come forward and get their children vaccinated and help the nation achieve the goal of measles elimination and rubella control. “For this mammoth exercise, we have trained 56,974 health staff and volunteers and 48,983 teachers,” he said.

Kids fall sick in Bathinda

In Bathinda, just after being vaccinated during a drive launched at Shaheed Sipahi Sandeep Singh Senior Secondary School, the condition of a few students deteriorated. A 14-year-old girl student of the school fainted and was admitted to hospital. She was discharged in the afternoon. At least five other students experienced minor health issues. Nine children fell sick (experiencing dizziness and breathlessness) after being administered the vaccine at Government Senior Secondary School, Nangal Kalan, Mansa.

Thin attendance in schools

According to reports in Muktsar, a majority of parents kept their wards away from schools to avoid the vaccination drive. Navdeep Singh Sukhi, head, Government Primary School, Bhullar village, said: Now, we are not only spreading awareness among them but also giving assurances that the vaccination will not do any harm to their kids. I have pasted a handwritten poster on the boundary wall of my school assuring the parents that I would be responsible in case vaccination goes wrong. Still people are making so many queries."

Officials forced to leave

In Moga, parents refused to get their wards vaccinated. The teams of health department, which went to the government schools at Lopo, Chand Nawan, Ghal Kalan, Singhawala and many other villages in the district faced resistance from people. At Government Primary School, Lopo village, parents gathered outside the school and stopped the health officials from vaccinating the children and forced them to leave.