State pushes pedal to increase measles-rubella vaccination

kolkata: State Health department has directed all the districts to increase the number of vaccination centres for expediting the measles and rubella vaccination drive. Various civic bodies will also carry out awareness drives among the people where the vaccination rate had been low in previous years.

Bengal has administered measles-rubella vaccination doses to around 44 lakh children in the first three days of the vaccination drive. Bengal has been able to administer doses to over 80 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries it had targeted on a daily basis.

Bengal saw great success in the measles-rubella vaccination drive in the first two days with over 32 lakh children being vaccinated. Over 16 lakh children were vaccinated on Monday when the drive began while around 15.62 lakh children received doses on Tuesday. Nearly around 12 lakh children were vaccinated across the state on Wednesday.

The vaccination drive is yet to start in Darjeeling Hills. It is expected that the GTA will begin the drive in the Hills on February 15. More than 2.30 crore children are expected to get an additional dose of measles and rubella across Bengal. The Health department is undertaking the vaccination drive at various levels after the state government had given clear instructions that not a single child should not be left out.

The Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccination programme took a hit in the past two years due to the Covid pandemic. As the Covid infection has been brought under control, the state health department emphasised carrying out a full-fledged campaign to cover the maximum number of children under the vaccination initiative.