Shillong, Sept 7: Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign is a massive national campaign to eradicate Measles and control of Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) by 2020. To achieve this goal, Measles-Rubella (MR) campaign is being launched in the country targeting all children from 9 months to 15 years of age. The MR campaign is being planned to be conducted in Meghalaya from 24th September, 2018 onwards.
Measles is a highly infectious disease and causes a lot of childhood morbidity and mortality among children below 5 years of age. Rubella infection, although mild, can lead to foetal death, spontaneous abortion and a set of serious birth defects know as Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) if an unimmunized woman is infected during early pregnancy, resulting in huge health burden to the family and the society. Both these diseases can be prevented by highly effective and safe Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine.
The campaign aims to rapidly build up immunity for both Measles and Rubella by immunizing the target children with a single dose of MR vaccine and also provides a second opportunity for children left out in routine immunization at the age of 9 months (1st dose) and 16-24 months (2nd dose).
The MR Campaign is scheduled in end-September for a period of 5 weeks with the target beneficiaries for MR vaccine being children between 9 months to 15 years. A single dose of MR vaccine will be administered to all the target children during the campaign. Following the campaign, MR Vaccine will replace Measles vaccine under Routine Immunization, given as two doses at the age of 9-12 months and 16-24 months.
