Administer one additional dose of measles vaccine to children: Centre to states

Amid an increase in the number of measles cases the Centre has asked states to consider administering an additional dose of measles and rubella vaccines to all children aged nine months to five years in vulnerable areas Recently increased numbers of measles cases were reported from certain districts of Bihar Gujarat Haryana Jharkhand Kerala and MaharashtraAreas under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and some other districts in Maharashtra have reported a rapid rise in infections and around 10 mortalities caused by the measles virusIn a letter to the Principal Health Secretary of Maharashtra that was also marked to all states and Union territories the Health Ministry said this surge is of particular concern from the public health point of viewIt is also clear that in all such geographies the affected children were predominantly unvaccinated and the average coverage of Measles and Rubella Containing Vaccine MRCV among the eligible beneficiaries is also significantly below the national average Health Ministry Joint Secretary P Ashok Babu saidAlso Read Measles outbreak in Mumbai One more child dies toll reaches to 12In this context he said a meeting of domain experts chaired by a member health NITI Aayog was held on WednesdayBased on inputs received from the meeting the Centre said states and UTs are advised to consider administering an additional dose to all children of nine months to five years in vulnerable areasThis dose would be in addition to the primary vaccination schedule of first dose at nine12 months and second dose at 1624 months he saidThe vulnerable areas are to be identified by the state government and UT administration in Outbreak Response Immunisation ORI modeA dose of MRCV is to be administered to all children aged six months and up to less than nine months in those areas where measles cases in the age group of less than nine months are above 10 per cent of the total cases he saidSince this dose of MRCV is being given to this cohort in Outbreak Response Immunisation ORI mode these children should also be covered by first and second dose of MRCV according to the primary routine Measles and Rubella vaccination schedule he saidAs the disease is known to witness a surge in cases of numbers from November to March annually the health ministry said an active fever and rash surveillance mechanism needs to be strengthened for early case identificationHead count survey of all children aged six months to five years must be undertaken in the vulnerable outbreak areas to facilitate full MRCV coverage in an accelerated manner The institutionalised mechanism of District Task Force on immunisation under the leadership of the district collector must be activated to review the measles situation on a daily and weekly basis and plan the response activities accordingly he saidThe disease is known to be fatal among children with moderate and severe malnourishment he said underlining that as part of the case identification and management housetohouse search activities to identify such vulnerable children and provide preemptive care with nutritional and Vitamin A supplementation is also necessaryThe Health Ministry said immediate isolation of laboratoryconfirmed cases must be done for at least seven days from the date of identificationThe Centre also asked Maharashtra to earmark wards and beds for effective caseload management of measles in dedicated health facilities for timely transfer and treatment of such childrenThe Centre has also deployed highlevel teams to Ranchi Jharkhand Ahmedabad Gujarat and Malappuram Kerala to assess and manage the increase in the number of measles cases among children thereThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever