Bhubaneswar: Expressing concern over non-cooperation of private school authorities in carrying out Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccination programme, the government has asked 13 district collectors to ensure its smooth implementation.
School and Mass Education Secretary PK Mohapatra has written a letter to five municipal commissioners and collectors of 13 districts, where the JE vaccination programme is going on, to personally intervene in the issue and ensure smooth conduct of the programme in all private and government schools in their jurisdiction.
“It has come to our notice that many private school authorities are not cooperating with the vaccination exercise or are insisting on parent consent for vaccination of their child. As this is a public health measure being undertaken nationwide, the specific consent of parents is not required to immunize the child,” Mohapatra said in his letter.
However, he said, information is to be communicated to the parents regarding the vaccination campaign. “If at all any parent has an objection on any valid grounds, it has to be necessarily brought before the authorities and there need not be any vaccine administered to such children, whose parents object to the vaccination in writing,” he mentioned.
The vaccination campaign is going on in Balasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Khurda, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Puri, Rayagada, Sonepur and Sundargarh districts. According to sources, the government has given JE vaccine to 23, 94, 576 students so far.
PNN