PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has directed educational institutions to ensure vaccination of students against measles during the 13-day campaign starting on November 15 in the province.

Private Schools Regulatory Authority Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has issued a notification, saying that all private institutes must cooperate with the health teams, who will be visiting the schools during the drive till November 27 and ensure immunisation of all students.

The authority has said that action will be taken against the schools under relevant law if they show reluctance in vaccination of students. According to West Pakistan Vaccination Refusal against Vaccination Ordinance, 1958 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Vaccination (Amended) Act 2017, the violators were liable to three-month imprisonment and Rs10,000 penalty, it said.

13-day campaign to be launched on 15th

Similarly, Epidemic Control and Emergency Relief Act, 2020 also stipulates imposition of Rs1 million fine on the schools for refusing vaccination besides closure of the institutions.

A health department official said that same instructions were also circulated to education department as vaccination against measles/rubella was declared mandatory by the government.

Dr Mohammad Arif, the provincial director of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), told Dawn that the campaign was being launched in response to the outbreak of measles and rubella in the province. “We have registered 2,631 cases of measles this year so far. In total, 39 persons have passed away of measles,” he added.

He said that rubella, the German type of measles, was more dangerous. He said that the province reported 40 cases of rubella in the current year.

He added that both the types of the disease were vaccine-preventable.

“The unvaccinated people are mostly likely to get infected with measles and rubella, which cause blindness, diarrhoea, pneumonia and other complications. The unimmunised girls may face abortions. Therefore, all the people from nine months to 15 years must get shots during the drive to stay safe,” said Dr Arif.

He said that 15,000 teams were constituted to be deployed across the province and administer shots to the people in community, fixed centres and through mobile vans.

The teams consisting of EPI technicians, lady health workers, dispensers and health workers would immunes 15 million target people, he said.

Dr Arif said that the campaign would also spread awareness about significance of the vaccine. “These shots are being administered to the target population at 1,702 EPI centres located in state-run hospitals throughout the province,” he added.

He said that there was no side effect of measles/rubella (MR) vaccination as it was internationally approved. He said that rubella and measles were highly contagious and people in the relevant age group were vulnerable to those ailments.

“We have run vaccination drives in 2012, 2013 and 2018 but no reaction was reported. The campaigns safeguarded people against both the vaccine-preventable ailments,” said the EPI director.

Local paediatricians said that most deaths and incidence of measles and rubella went unreported. “The high prevalence of measles is causing mortalities but all the cases are not recorded in hospitals,” a paediatrician said. He added that most cases in rural areas were not reported but vaccination was the right way for its control and prevention.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2021