Parents relent after officials’ talk; 1.23 lakh vaccinated

Health officials said on Monday that the drive, which started on February 6, will go on till the end of this month. Children from the age of 9 months to 15 years will be covered during the drive.

The vaccination would be given in three phases, said Abdul Karim, Assistant Director (Statistics), Health Department, Madurai. In the first round, schoolchildren would be covered. Children under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) or the Anganwadis would be covered in the subsequent phase and in the final leg dropouts would be targeted. 

While the target for the district has been set at 6,46,943 children, so far 1,23,285 school children have been vaccinated during the first week of the first phase. “It is a positive response as many parents initially showed reluctance in administering these vaccines to their children, he said. 

In fact, many parents wrote to a school in rural Madurai not to include their children in the drive. Later, they were convinced by the School Education Department to allow their children to be given the vaccine. 

Abdul Karim said that Tamil Nadu was among the five states chosen by the central government for the programme on an experimental basis and the total target has been set at 1.8 crore. Other states where the drive was going on were Karnataka, Puducherry, Goa and Lakshadweep. In the next three months, seven more states would be covered under the mass vaccination programme. 

The central government has set 2020 as deadline to eradicate measles and rubella from the country, said Abdul Karim.