SHILLONG: In a positive indication, more than three lakh children in Meghalaya have been vaccinated against Measles and Rubella under the Measles Rubella Vaccination Campaign (MRVC) .
Informing this here in a press conference, Health and Family Welfare Minister said that the campaign had been very successful and sought the cooperation of all sections of the society and underlined the need to understand the goal of this drive which will protect the future citizens of Meghalaya from both these deadly diseases.
On the other hand, Secretary of the department, Pravin Bakshi said that till October 8, 1,88,566 boys and 1,93,855 girls had been covered bringing overall total of 3,82,421 children.
As far as coverage of the programme is concern, East Jaintia Hills District is leading with 65% coverage followed by West Jaintia Hills with 60%, and next is West Khasi Hills district at 42%.
East Garo has 32 % coverage, closely followed by South West Garo and South West Khasi Hills both registering 31 % coverage.
He also maintained that the programme had met with problems of rumour mongering and superstitions being shared on social media platforms but the health and education department teams, assisted by the social welfare department had responded by dispelling false rumours and explaining the benefits and importance of this vaccination drive.
“In order to succeed, we must get at least 95% evaluated survey coverage,” he said while adding that many refusal pockets were now accepting the vaccination even as he added that the department had made special micro plan for difficult areas where vaccinations were often rejected.
Bakshi also said that in order to instill confidence in the minds of the people about the safety of the vaccinations, many Deputy Commissioners, government officers, doctors and nurses were coming forward to vaccinate their own children.
Meanwhile, a popular eatery in Shillong, “ Delhi Mistan Bhandar is also offering one plate of its famous jalebis to all the children who are being vaccinated with MR vaccination free of cost.
The children will have to produce the proof of their vaccination.
It may be mentioned that the campaign was launched officially across Meghalaya on October 1 and prior to that five districts, started the MRVC activity from September 24 after a soft launch.
The campaign is in line with the Government of India’s decision to eradicate Measles and control Rubella by the year 2020 and the target in Meghalaya is to vaccinate around 13 lakh children.
