Mumbai: Measles task force seeks age relaxation in vaccination norms amid infant deaths

Mumbai: Deaths of infants nine months old and below due to Measles have raised concern among the state measles task force which plans to bring relaxation inmeasles vaccination to cover children who are not eligible for immunisation.

In January, four of the five measles victims in the city were aged nine months or younger, and were not eligible.

70% of measles patients in Mumbai below 1 year of age

A measles task force member said they want to ensure vaccination reaches more children so that ineligible children are also considered for the immunisation drive in light of the recent fatalities. Moreover, 70% of measles patients in Mumbai at the moment are under one year of age.

“Current measles death were among nine months and below due to which criteria for vaccinating children in the six to nine months age group should be relaxed so that more infants are eligible,” he said.

He further said that the infants that succumbed to Measles in January were malnourished and hailed from large families. “It appears they did not get adequate antibodies for measles from their mothers as is usually the case,” he added. The children also lived in localities known to resist vaccines.

Meanwhile, 1,66,036 (71.52%) of the total 2,32,159 children in age group of nine months to five years of age were given an additional dose of MR vaccine (Special dose). Moreover, 3,797 (74.25%) of the total 5,114 children in age group of six to nine months were given zero dose of MR vaccine.