37.7 Lakh children to be vaccinated from Sept 23 to Oct 20 in J&K

Srinagar: About 37.7 lakh children between the age group of 9 months to 15 years will be given a single shot of Measles-Rubella vaccine in the Jammu and Kashmir, an official spokesman said here on Tuesday evening.

He said Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam chaired the 1st meeting of the State Steering Committee for Measles-Rubella (MR) Campaign-2018.

The Measles-Rubella Campaign-2018 will be launched in Jammu and Kashmir from 23rd of September to 20th October, 2018, during which about 37.7 Lakh children between the age group of 9 months and 15 years will be given a single shot of Measles-Rubella vaccine.

The campaign aims to rapidly build up population immunity by reaching out to 100 per cent target children with MR vaccine, knocking out the susceptible cohort and, thereby, reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with Measles and Rubella.

All children from 9 months to less than 15 years will be given a single shot of Measles-Rubella vaccine during the campaign, irrespective of their previous Measles/Rubella vaccination or Measles/Rubella disease status.

The target children will be vaccinated in schools, health facilities and other outreach sites.

Chief Secretary stressed on inter-sectoral coordination especially with the education and Social Welfare departments, sensitisation of parents, teachers and community leaders and constitution of mobile/special teams for reaching children in far-flung inaccessible and border areas.

Measles & Rubella vaccination campaign was launched in February 2017 in the country and is the largest ever Measles-Rubella campaign launched in the world. The Campaign has been already completed in 17 states/UTs and more than 10 crore children have been vaccinated so far.