Bhubaneswar: The state government will launch a five-week long Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign from January 29 as part of the nation-wide campaign to eliminate measles and control rubella/congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) by 2020.
Around 1.24 crore children in the age group of nine months to 15 years will be administered a single dose of the vaccine during the drive, said health and family welfare secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda after attending a high-level meeting convened by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi in this regard.
The vaccination programme will be divided into three phases, he said, adding, all the schools will be covered in the first phase.
Similarly, area wise children will be covered in the second phase and the remaining children will be covered under the third phase, he stated.
All schools, including private, government, kindergarten, play and anganwadi will be covered during the drive. The vaccine will replace the existing two-dose measles vaccination given to children in between 9 and 12 months and 16 and 24 months of age. Anganwadi workers, officials from Women and Child Development department would be involved in the MR vaccination process.
Earlier, a state-level workshop was conducted to chalk out strategies for proper implementation of Measles-Rubella vaccination campaign last year. The maximum number of cases of Measles and Rubella are reported from among children below 15 years.
PNN
