Only 14.7% children, aged nine months to five years, get additional measles doses

Till now, there have been 16 deaths in Mumbai due to suspected measles. A 4-year-old girl from Saki Naka was the latest casualty on Sunday. So far, the city witnessed 462 laboratory-confirmed measles cases and 61 outbreaks in 2022.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), after two weeks of the additional measles vaccination drive, only managed to vaccinate 14.74% of the children aged between nine months to five years in Mumbai. In this age bracket, 2,01,097 children are yet to receive the extra dose of vaccination.

The civic body managed to give additional measles doses to 34,781 out of 2,35,878 children aged nine months to five years, as per data revealed by the BMC. 1,100 (20.78%) of 5,293 children aged six to nine months were administered zero doses. (PTI)

Till now, there have been 16 deaths in Mumbai due to suspected measles. A 4-year-old girl from Saki Naka was the latest casualty on Sunday. So far, the city witnessed 462 laboratory-confirmed measles cases and 61 outbreaks in 2022.

On December 1, to counter the outbreak, the BMC started a special drive to administer measles vaccines to children in vulnerable areas, over and above the shots recommended in the universal immunisation programme.

The civic body managed to give additional measles doses to 34,781 out of 2,35,878 children aged nine months to five years, as per data revealed by the BMC. 1,100 (20.78%) of 5,293 children aged six to nine months were administered zero doses. BMC health workers said it will be an uphill task to cover the entire population, and therefore they are roping in additional manpower. The civic body also recruited additional Asha workers.

A medical officer said they are trying to hire more Asha workers to mobilise parents for the vaccinations, but it remains a challenge. “We are managing the vaccination camps with the intern doctors. But, for the mobilisation of people, we need more Asha workers,” she said.

“A few weeks back, because of the measles deaths, people out of fear let their eligible children take the measles doses. However, we are again facing reluctance,” added the officer. The M-East ward – which brought the measles outbreak to the limelight and saw 8 out of the city’s 13 confirmed measles deaths – got 55 new ASHA workers. The ward, which has a 9.35 lakh slum population, already has 61 ASHA workers.

Given the requirement for human resources, BMC had a meeting along with the state measles task force. “In the meeting, the BMC indicated the need for additional manpower and said they are in the process of hiring large numbers of Asha workers,” said Dr Subhash Salunke, the former Director of Health for Maharashtra who is heading the state measles task force.

He said as a state task force, they have suggested auxiliary nursing midwifery (ANM) to handle vaccination camps in place of doctors/medical officers.

“In the municipal corporation, the requirement of a doctor/medical officer for each vaccination camp is a must. It blocks the number of doctors available. ANMs are competent to do the job. We have suggested the modification so that additional human resources can be available,” said Dr Salunkhe.

The meeting also had medical officers from all the wards. Speaking about the outbreak in Mumbai, Dr Salukhe said there is a declining trend among outbreaks. “We are still seeing more cases because the search has been intensified. However, we are seeing a declining trend in the number of outbreaks.”

The city has surveyed 80,36,110 houses and found 4,936 children having fever and rashes. “The routine immunisation programme needs to be sustained. This is not a one-time activity. The outbreak of measles was a result of the accumulation of unvaccinated children in an area,” added Dr Salunkhe.

The first dose of the vaccine is administered to children between the age of 9 months and 12 months, while the second dose is administered between 16 months and 24 months. However, considering the high prevalence of the viral infection in the state and city, the government on November 25, decided to administer extra doses.

In 2020, Mumbai saw 25 measles cases and in 2021, there were 9 cases.