Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign Kicks Off In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday flagged off the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign at Naveen Niwas here.

Minister, Health and Family Welfare, Pratap Jena, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Pramod Meherda and Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Shalini  Pandit, were present on the occasion.

The programme is being introduced for the first time in Odisha.

The campaign will continue till March 26. During the campaign, nearly 1.13 crore children in the age group of 9 months to less than 15 years will be vaccinated. After the vaccination campaign, MR vaccine will replace measles vaccine in the Routine Immunization programme.

During the first two weeks of the campaign, vaccination will be done in all government and private schools while in the next two weeks vaccination will be done at the community level and subsequently in the remote areas.

The Health Department would take up the programme in association with the Education, ST& SC Development, Panchayati Raj and Housing & UD Department departments. Each department has identified a Nodal Officer for monitoring of district level activities. The programme is supported by the WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and professional bodies like Indian Medical Association (IMA), Indian Association of Pediatric (IAP) and Lion’s International.