Soon, Health dept to start Measles Rubella Vaccination programme

KOLKATA: The state Health department will start Measles Rubella Vaccination (MRV) from the third week of November with the target to vaccinate 2.5 crore children in two months.

The MR Vaccine will be administered free of cost to all children aged between 9 months and 15 years across the state from session sites, in schools, community as well as health facilities.

"MR Vaccine has been an integral part of the private sector in the state for many years. Now, it is being included in government's universal immunisation programme replacing old measles vaccine. We have been able to eradicate small pox and polio through immunisation programme. The MRV Campaign has been launched with the aim of eliminating measles — a killer disease among children and to control Rubella, the cause of serious neurological and cardiological defects among newborns if infection occurs during pregnancy," said Dr. Arun Manglik, president of West Bengal Academy of Pediatrics (WBAP), which will work in collaboration with the state government in this initiative.

According to Pallabi Nandi, Professor of Pediatric Medicine at Calcutta Medical College Hospital, this will be an additional dose to all the children in the target age group and will give extra protection, if earlier doses have not been fully effective.

"Rubella is generally a mild infection but has serious consequences if infection occurs in pregnant women in the first three months, causing congenital Rubella syndrome (CRS).

CRS is characterized by congenital anomalies in the foetus and newborns affecting the eyes, ears, brain and even heart, causing a huge socio economic pressure on the families in particular and society in general," Prof Nandi said.

Over 1 lakh babies are born with CRS every year and it is estimated that 40 to 50,000 such cases occur in India alone.

India also accounts for 36 percent of the 1,34,200 deaths globally due to measles infection every year. The MRV programme has been completed in 18 states and is currently ongoing in 8 states. Around 13 crore children have already been vaccinated.

Inspired by the elimination of polio several years ago and maternal and neonatal tetanus and yaws in 2016, India has set an ambitious target of eliminating measles and controlling Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS), caused by the rubella virus, by 2020. While two doses of measles vaccine given at 9-12 months and 16-24 months have already been part of the national immunisation programme, it is the first time that the rubella vaccine has been included in the programme.