Special measles vaccination drive for destitute children to start today

Six teams will be spread across Mumbai to ensure the highly contagious viral infection doesn’t infect them.

Mumbai: The hidden population – families which live on the street side, under bridges or at construction sites – in the city is difficult to track and goes out of the radar pretty often. However, targeting such families, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start a special measles vaccination drive today which will focus on children living in these areas. Six teams will be spread across Mumbai to ensure the highly contagious viral infection doesn’t infect them.

Winters are the peak of viral infections, which is why civic officials are gearing up with a more rigorous immunisation drive. With the vaccine coverage among the vulnerable population being around 30%, the officials are worried about another spike in the number of measles cases. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

BMC’s executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare said that a directive in this regard has been sent out to all supervisors at construction sites, factories and other workplaces where daily wagers work. “We have asked them to ensure that the children of such workers, especially those below 5 years of age, receive the vaccines as and when the drive is conducted in their areas,” she added.

Winters are the peak of viral infections, which is why civic officials are gearing up with a more rigorous immunisation drive. With the vaccine coverage among the vulnerable population being around 30%, the officials are worried about another spike in the number of measles cases.

Meanwhile, the head of the state measles task force Dr Subhash Salunkhe said that efforts should be made to reach all children who have missed the vaccines. “This includes kids up to 15 years of age. Children whose parents either have no record of their immunisation status or don’t know anything about it need to be considered unvaccinated,” he said.

Salunkhe added that there is no problem if a child ends up getting an extra dose or two of the vaccine, but remaining without immunisation is a problem.

More than 70 health posts are being run by BMC, in various slum areas of the city where measles outbreak have been observed. The homeless population was covered under the door-to-door surveys conducted by the health workers in all wards since the first outbreak came to the fore in September.

However, with no address proof, or even a fixed place to sleep in many cases, they were difficult to track. Additionally, the number of people coming back to Mumbai in search of employment opportunities has gone up in recent times.

A health official from the BMC said that the situation is under control for now. “The numbers of children with infections are on the wane each day. To be cautious, all children with fever and rashes are being counted as part of the measles outbreak. Very few of them are confirmed cases of measles,” he said.

There remains a huge amount of vaccine hesitancy, the official added.