The Health Department has just managed to scrape through the measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign, over three months after it was launched as a month-long drive on October 3.
According to Health Department sources, 88.88% of the targeted population in the age group between nine months and 15 years in the State have been covered by January 6.
Kottayam district is ahead of others recording 98.4% of coverage. Kozhikode is at the bottom of the heap with 81.5%, and Malappuram is just ahead of it at 82.01%. Both these districts in Malabar had lagged behind in the initial phase as online and offline campaigns against the drive dissuaded minority communities from vaccinating children. The number of targeted children was higher in these districts compared to southern districts too. In Malappuram, health workers were even manhandled by a group of people. The programme had to be extended a couple of times. The department had to start a counter-campaign and seek the help of community leaders and elected representatives to clear the misconceptions.
However, the targeted coverage of 95% still eludes most districts.
The sources said that only Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Idukki, and Kollam have managed to either reach the target or go above it.
The drive will continue in other districts until at least 90% coverage is reached.
Meanwhile, a few health workers pointed out that there was a possibility of duplication in the numbers in the northern districts as the Health Department staff may have included the details of same children from different sources to add up the numbers. Children who might have missed vaccination at school could have gone to a hospital for the purpose.
But the authorities may have included their name twice in the list.
They might have done it to save the embarrassment of failure, which would have forced the government to repeat the drive all over again.
Also, if there had been proper coordination between the departments of Education, Health and Local Self-Government in the beginning itself, this target could have been achieved much earlier, they added.
