Only 23 per cent of the children eligible for the measles-rubella (MR) shot in Kolkata have taken the vaccine during the special inoculation drive against the two diseases that started in the state two weeks ago, civic officials said.
The state-wide coverage stands at 55 per cent.
Many schools in Kolkata are still reluctant to organise camps on their campuses to vaccinate their students. “The schools have told us they are not keen on organising camps because guardians are not willing to let their wards take the dose,” said an official in the health department of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
In some schools where camps were held, less than half the students eligible for the shot turned up. A few schools called off the vaccination camp hours before it was to start.
All children between nine months and 15 years are eligible for the shot. In Kolkata, around 12 lakh children are in that age group.
Doctors have said that the children already inoculated against measles and rubella should take the special dose provided the earlier shot was taken at least four weeks ago.
The poor response to the MR vaccination drive is in line with the low turnout for the Covid shot. A large number of people in Kolkata are yet to take the booster dose of their Covid vaccine, a KMC official said.
Most private hospitals in the city have stopped Covid vaccination because of poor response. The KMC, too, has discontinued Covid vaccination, the official said.
“The 23 per cent coverage (for the MR vaccine) is not satisfactory. We are failing to persuade many schools to organise camps. Many parents are not sending their children for the dose,” the KMC official said.
The West Bengal government started the special five-week MR vaccination drive on January 9 with the target to administer all eligible children in the state.
An official in the state health department said response to public health initiatives in urban areas has traditionally been poor. “People in urban areas tend to be less keen on participating in public health programmes,” said the official.
According to the initial plan, the first three weeks of the five-week programme were supposed to focus on camps in schools as these were thought to be the best way to reach children. The next two weeks were kept for a mop-up campaign.
The health department is now considering ways to improve the campaign’s coverage in Kolkata.
A doctor who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the low coverage in Kolkata showed the dependence of a large section of residents on private healthcare providers.
“Parents who take their children to private hospitals may not have faith in a government programme. The government, too, did not widely publicise the programme and its benefits,” said the doctor.
Apurba Ghosh, director of the Institute of Child Health, told The Telegraph that “all children who are eligible should take the vaccine”.
“Children still dying of measles in our country, which is unfortunate. The special drive is meant to eradicate the disease and control rubella,” he said.