In view of rumours being spread from various platforms to create doubts in the minds of people of the State about the Measles Rubella Vaccination Campaign (MRVC), health & family welfare principal director Dr Vikeyie Losu asserted that the vaccine was safe and there was no “hidden agenda” in the government’s campaign. The principal director, in a press release issued on Monday, also appealed to everyone to dispel fears and come forward to vaccinate their child and give them “double protection with just one dose.” He urged everyone to join hands and support the campaign to ensure a “healthier Nagaland – Nagaland free of measles and rubella diseases.”
Losu explained that the health & family welfare department would be embarking on a very special vaccination campaign from October 3 for eliminating measles and control rubella.
He said the campaign had started in India in 2017 from the southern States and “now it is our turn”. He added that North-eastern States like Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh had all completed the campaign successfully.
Admitting that a campaign of this magnitude was not easy, the principal director said the health & family welfare department had been preparing for this since the last four months.
He said the department was working very closely with education, social welfare, IPR and other line departments, besides civil society organisations, UN agencies (WHO, UNICEF, UNDP) and faith-based bodies. On behalf of the department, he extended his gratitude to each of them for continuous support.
According to Losu, while measles led to deaths, rubella was known to result in abortions, still births and birth defects. He pointed out that every year many children died due to measles and vaccine-preventable diseases. Asserting that the success of MR campaign would ensure that the viruses did not get a chance to affect or kill children, the principal director mentioned that the vaccine was an additional dose and that all children between nine months and 15 years were eligible to take the vaccine.
He reminded everyone that small pox had been eradicated from the world and polio too was about to be eradicated, thanks to the mass vaccination campaigns. Losu further stated that the MR vaccine had already been in use for the last 46 years in private sector as MMR. And now, the government planned to reach out to all children with this costly vaccine free of cost through the MR campaign, he added.
He claimed that 12 crore children had already received MR vaccine in the country under this campaign.