Collector proposes, government dismisses

State health authorities reject collector's proposal of mass vaccination for schoolchildren

State health authorities reject collector's proposal of mass vaccination for schoolchildren

The number of positive swine flu cases is showing a sharp decline, a phenomenon health experts attribute to increased immunisation of people.u00a0

And yet the state government has, at least for now, chosen not to go in for mass immunisation of schoolchildren.

NO mass vaccination: The state says vaccination of children should be the responsibility of parents. Representation pic

District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi recently wrote to the state government seeking guidelines on vaccination of schoolchildren.

A proposal submitted by the Indian Medical Association's Dr Sharad Agharkhedkar to Dalvi had suggested that 70 per cent of schoolchildren be vaccinated as that would help check the spread of swine flu.

"There were no vaccines last year and that's why we couldn't do anything to prevent swine flu. Now that the vaccines are here, we wanted to have the guidelines on using the vaccine," said Dalvi.

However, state authorities clearly said the government has decided not to undertake mass vaccination. "The vaccine in government stock isn't meant for children but only health workers.
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The government has advised immunisation for children but parents would have to take that responsibility and no mass vaccination will be done," said Dr C A Kante, officer in charge of swine flu cell, Pune.

He added that the decision was open to review at the next state-level meeting on September 21. "If there is an unusual spurt in cases during Ganeshotsav, we might reconsider the decision," he said.

PMC clueless

When asked if they were aware of the guidelines on vaccination, Shubhangi Chavan, assistant education officer, PMC, said such a proposal was sent to state government but she didn't know the outcome.

Dr R R Pardeshi, chief medical officer, said that he had written a letter more than a month ago asking for guidelines on mass immunisation of school children but hadn't received a reply.