WHO, PGIMER officials assert MR vaccination completely safe

CHANDIGARH : Medical specialists from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (

PGIMER

), Chandigarh, on Thursday emphasized that

MR

(measles and rubella) vaccination was totally safe and people should remain away from “nasty rumours” suggesting otherwise.

Specialists were speaking at the press conference chaired by Punjab’s health and family welfare minister

Brahm Mohindra

to reinforced positive aspects of national measles rubella vaccination campaign in the state. Specialists included PGIMER’s additional professor of paediatrics department Dr Sanjay Verma and WHO’s Dr Srinivasan.

Dr Srinivasan said MR vaccine was produced by Indian firm Serum Institute of India under strict quality control and was a WHO pre-qualified vaccine. He also added same vaccine was being exported to European countries and the US. He said measles is number one killer among vaccine preventable disease with more than one lakh deaths globally, including 30% happening in India. Dr Verma said measles and rubella disease was still a big challenge and cause of disability and mortality as he himself attends to several such patients in PGIMER.

Addressing mediapersons, the health minister emphatically condemned the false propaganda against the vaccination campaign on social media. Mohindra said around eight crore children across 14 states and Union Territories have been vaccinated till date with this vaccine. He added in Punjab around 14 lakh children have been administered the MR vaccine till Thursday.

Mohindra appealed to the parents to get their children aged between 9 months and 15 years vaccinated with the MR vaccine and help eliminate these two diseases. Expressing sorrow over the death of a child at Bathinda recently, Mohindra clarified as per experts’ preliminary investigation, no link could be established with MR vaccination of the unfortunate death. The death case was acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration, as per doctors attending the victim.