SHILLONG: The state Health and Family Welfare Department is going all out to ensure children are administered Measles-Rubella vaccines in line with the Centre’s target to eradicate the diseases by 2022.
The Measles-Rubella (MR) Vaccination campaign which is scheduled to be conducted in Meghalaya from September 24 onwards gains importance in the wake of the Centre’s push towards eliminating malnutrition.
Commissioner and Secretary of Social Welfare department, T Dkhar said, “If children are not immunised, sickness will be there.”
Stating that the diseases are to be nipped in the bud, Secretary of Health & Family Welfare Department, Pravin Bakshi said, “Measles and Rubella need to be eradicated from the state.”
Asked on the stiff resistance faced from a section of the people especially in remote areas of the state, he said, “We accept that there are some pockets of resistance. In technical terms, it is called, vaccine hesitancy.”
“The only way it can be won over is by continuous advocacy and community participation,” he said adding that religious leaders and traditional heads should be active in their involvement.
Bakshi informed that the Archbishop of Shillong, Dominic Jala had extended his support to the measles-rubella campaign and appealed all Catholic institutions to be part of the campaign.