PUNE: State officials going door-to-door to find children who’ve missed out on early vaccines fear districts with more home births and high levels of vaccine hesitancy face a high risk of disease outbreaks as infants often miss out on crucial vaccines.
These door-to-door drives were launched as a response to measles outbreaks being reported in parts of the state.
Data shows out of the 4,815 home deliveries reported between April and October this year, 1,804 were in municipal limits and the rest, 3,011, were in rural areas. Among the rural deliveries, Nandurbar reported 2,059, Bhiwandi 925, Malegaon 566 and Gadchiroli 329. And of these regions, Malegaon and Bhiwandi are also where officials are finding cases of measles this year, and worrying levels of hesitancy.
Dr Sapna Thakre, medical officer with the Malegaon municipal corporation, said children delivered at home often miss out on vaccines against diseases such as measles.
She said: “If it’s not the first child, several families insist on home births. While many take the first dose of the painless BCG vaccine, there’s substantial resistance towards the measles-rubella jab as side-effects may include fever, swelling at injection site and some pain. This is what makes parents reluctant. A child may get the first MR shot, but many families don’t turn up for the second.”
State officials said that despite the number of home births, efforts are being made to vaccinate every child.
Dr Sachin Desai, state immunisation officer, said, “ASHA workers record every pregnancy. So even if a child is delivered at home, they turn up to ensure the baby is vaccinated.”
But Dr Thakre said areas where vaccine hesitancy is prevalent have in the past resisted visits by ASHAs.
Dr Aarti Kinikar, head of Sassoon’s paediatrics department, said: “We need to carefully analyse correlation between home births and vaccination. Every child that has missed a shot could be tracked to determine if it was a home or hospital delivery.”
She added that many home births are also accidental. “Lack of access to medical care can lead to home deliveries. The state has a good network to track early immunisation, thanks to the ASHA workers. Hesitancy is a key reason why children are missing out on vaccine.”
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Read MoreSteffy Thevar is a Pune-based senior correspondent working for the Times of India. She writes on health, urban infrastructure and gender parity issues. She has worked in Mumbai for three years and shifted to Pune and covered the Covid19 pandemic. She had completed her masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from Savitribai Phule Pune University's department of Mass Communication and Journalism. She also writes on a range of issues including housing, human rights and environment.
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