Measles & rubella virus: Vax drive to be held in schools across state

Sristhi Lakhotia |  MP  |  29 Nov 2022 | Kolkata: The vaccination programme against measles and rubella virus will be conducted in state government and private schools across all districts of West Bengal. 

In Kolkata, it will begin from January 9 and continue for at least two to three weeks. The two vaccines will be given to school children up to the age of 15 years from January. 

In order to create awareness the authorities will hold a meeting with the parents. 

These two vaccines will be provided to students from class-I to class-X for free of cost. The school headmasters have been asked to send the total number of students between the mentioned classes to the health department or municipality. 

The Jodhpur Park for Boys school will be providing vaccination to at least 800 students and has already held meetings with parents, said the headmaster of the school. 

The Jadavpur Vidyapith has held six guardian meetings in the presence of local health officers. 

The headmaster of the school said that the parents have expressed enthusiasm for the programme. "1150 students will be getting vaccinated," he said. 

The schools already have experience in conducting Covid vaccination and thus feel they are prepared for the vaccine programme against measles and rubella virus. 

In August this year, the state government had decided to conduct a month-long vaccination programme against Measles and Rubella virus. 

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. 

The department has already sent a directive in this regard to all the District Magistrates and Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMoHs) in the districts. 

All the districts were asked to form a district core group with the DM as the chairperson. Police superintendent in each district, ADMs (health) and the school inspectors will be in the group. 

The main purpose is to ensure not a single child in that age group is not left out. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/measles-rubella-virus-vax-drive-to-be-held-in-schools-across-state-500526