MR vaccination drive evokes good response in 4 districts

The campaign for single-dose dual vaccination for Measles and Rubella took off well with the active participation of schools except for a few problems in Pandavapura of Mandya district and Yalandur in Chamarajanagar district, on Tuesday.

The Mysuru district administration had organised a rally by nursing students, in association with Zilla Panchayat, Health and Family Welfare department, Mysore City Corporation and Lions Club International. The rally began from the Nagamma Perumal Chettiar Hospital on the premises of the district health officer’s office, in Mysuru.

Deputy Commissioner D Randeep flagged off the rally, which passed through the main thoroughfares of the city and culminated at Shanthaveri Gopala Gowda Hospital.

The Health department is planning to administer vaccine to 7,95,788 children, and 628 teams have been formed for the task. Each team has a vaccinator, data entry operator, marker and a schoolteacher, who will be the facilitator. Vaccination will carried out in all the 3,078 schools of the Mysuru district.

Deputy Commissioner Randeep said, the vaccination campaign would go on till February 28, covering over seven lakh children in the age group of 9 months to 15 years in the district.

He said, the campaign would first cover over 3,000 schools and would be extended later to other places. “The campaign aims at eradicating Measles and Rubella, which are dangerous diseases. So, the vaccination is vital for the children,” he said.

Mayor M J Ravikumar, Deputy Mayor Ratna Lakshman, MCC Commissioner G Jagadeesha, Health Standing Committee Chairman Mahadevappa, and District Health Officer Dr B Basavaraj were present.

Hassan

In Hassan, Deputy Commissioner V Chaitra called upon the people to join hands with the administration to make Hassan district free from Measles and Rubella.

After launching the programme at Vani Vilas High School in the city the DC appealed to the parents to make use of the opportunity and assured that the vaccine will not have any side-effects on the health of the children. Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Venkatesh Kumar said that 3,72,687 children would be administered vaccine at various places across the district.

Special teams have been formed so that even the families that have migrated to the district are not left out.

Paediatrician Dr Dinesh said even if the children have been vaccinated earlier, it is necessary to administer the vaccination again, and it is completely safe.

Mandya

Deputy Commissioner S Ziaulla launched the MR vaccination drive in Mandya and called upon the people to cooperate to make the country free from the diseases by 2020.

An Urdu school in the district had stopped the drive with the rumours spreading that children have died after vaccination. It is also said that a few parents in villages had not allowed their children to get vaccinated. Taluk Health Officer Dr Ashalatha and Dr Jayant said the vaccination was mandatory to all students in the taluk and awareness is being created about its importance.

Chamarajanagar

In Chamarajanagar district, District Health Officer Dr K H Prasad and Deputy Commissioner B Ramu appealed to the people to cooperate and said there was no need for panic.