RAWALPINDI: As many as 2,328,972 children between 9 months to 15 years of age would get anti-Measles and Rubella vaccine under a 13 day-long drive, which will be carried out in the entire district from November 15 to 27.
Under the drive, In-charge anti-measles drive Muhammad Islam told APP, 1812 skilled persons besides 1812 team assistants and 3368 social mobilizers would visit 210 Union Councils of the district including 46 UCs of Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR), 36 tehsil Rawalpindi, 28 Rawalpindi Cantt, 33 Gujar Khan, 14 Kahutta, 11 Kalar Syeda, 10 Kotli sattian, 15 Murree and 17 Union councils of tehsil Taxila.
Giving details of the number of children to be targeted during the drive, Islam said that some 454,793 would be administered anti-measles and rubella vaccine in MCR area, 503,107 in tehsil Rawalpindi, 419,016 in Rawalpindi Cantt, 293,328 in Gujar Khan, 95,036 in Kahutta, 93,610 in Kalar Syeda, 51,408 in Kotli Sattian, and 100,593 in Murree.
In contrast, 292,081 children would receive the doses in tehsil Taxila. He further said Medical superintendents and Principals of government hospitals had been asked to provide lists of vaccinators, according to the allotted numbers of the health department. Besides, the education department has provided the lists of students enrolled in government and private schools to make the campaign successful to the authority, he informed.
Islam informed that training of dispensers, vaccinators, supervisors and other related staff were underway while at the same time, the health department had already engaged in fighting the deadly coronavirus besides the rising number of dengue cases. “Measles is an acute viral respiratory illness and is characterized by a prodrome of fever and malaise, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis -the three “C”s -, pathognomonic enanthema (Koplik spots) followed by a maculopapular rash while the rash usually appears about 14 days after a person is exposed,” he added.
Explaining Rubella infection, he said it was also known as German measles or three-day measles caused by the rubella virus. Islam said that this disease was often mild, with half of the people not realizing that they were infected. “A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and last for three days; it usually starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body”, the health officer informed. He said that it could cause a miscarriage or severe congenital disabilities in a developing baby if a woman were infected while she was pregnant.
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