‘Boycott had minor effect on measles drive’

Despite the vaccinators’ protest and boycott, the measles and rubella (German measles) inoculation campaign started smoothly in Sindh, and thousands of children were immunised against the viral illnesses with the help of nurses, paramedics, lady health workers as well as doctors and medical students, officials said on Monday.

“Of the 30 districts, the campaign was affected in seven districts of Hyderabad Division as vaccinators were protesting for their demands,” an official of the Sindh Health Department told The News.

“In the remaining 23 districts, including Karachi Division, the campaign was conducted smoothly as we had deployed around 16,000 teams of health workers to inoculate children against measles and rubella, and administer oral polio vaccine [OPV] drops to them.”

Around 19 million children aged between nine months and 15 years in the province will be vaccinated against measles and rubella, while 8.2 million children up to five years of age will be administered polio drops during the drive, added the official.

Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Project Director Dr Irshad Memon also confirmed that the vaccination campaign kicked off smoothly, saying that it was partially affected in three districts, especially in Tando Allahyar, due to the vaccinators’ protest, but added that they were in talks with the protesters to involve them in the drive.

“The quality of the campaign suffered only in three districts of the province due to the vaccinators’ protest and boycott, while in the remaining 27 districts, hundreds of thousands of children were administered measles and rubella vaccine shots, and OPV drops.”

He said the finance department had forwarded a summary to the chief minister to meet their demands of timescale and upgrades, and hoped for some development soon. “For the reinstatement of 336 vaccinators, we’ll forward a summary to the CM in the coming days.”

He also hoped that the protesting vaccinators would resume their duties immediately after their demands were accepted, saying that they had vacated the road in front of the Governor House on his request.

The protesters had earlier tried to march on the CM House but were stopped by a heavy contingent of police, forcing them to hold a sit-in on Aiwan-e-Saddar Road. Their protest resulted in a major traffic jam in the red zone, causing problems to commuters on different roads in the downtown area.