Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 5 (EMN): Despite fake news and rumours doing the round on social media creating fear psychosis over adverse effect of measles-rubella vaccination, there has been no such incident in the state since the day it was launched on October 3. On the contrary, the department claimed that the response was overwhelming with more children coming for the vaccination.
Amid apprehensions the campaign with a target to vaccinate 4.72 lakh children across the state was officially launched by the chief minister Neiphiu Rio on October 3 in Kohima.
There has been even claim of prophesy circulating in the social media that the vaccination was the handiwork of the devil to destroy the supreme works of God i.e. ‘the gift of childbearing.’ As the prophesy had come from a ‘healing ministry’, many gullible people reportedly fell prey to the rumour and forbade their children to take the vaccination.
A medical officer who does not want to be named admitted to Eastern Mirror that the fake rumours and news adversely affected the vaccination in a big way in the last two days. However, he said comparatively the turned out on October 5 was better.
The officer confirmed that pamphlets on the claim prophesy are being distributed in Phek area, which has negatively impacted the nearby villages too. Being Christians, the officer said anything to do with church and religion is taken very gravely by Nagas and many got carried away by the prophesy fearing that if they received the vaccination they will die, become anti-Christ, will not go to heaven and so on.
Nonetheless, it was informed that the numbers are going up as people realise that children who got vaccinated are not dying and there are no reports of any incidents. The officer was hopeful that the number will increase in the next few weeks and that all children will be vaccinated.
Fr. CJ Jaison, principal of St. Mary Cathedral Higher Secondary School, Kohima, told Eastern Mirror that 1300 students from LKG to Class-IX have been vaccinated on October 4 and that there are no signs or reports of any reactions from them. All the students reported to school the next day.
He said the school had intensively oriented and prepared both the students and their parents for 10 days conducting meetings and seminars. The parents, he said, were made to sign a paper ‘that they should be there during the vaccination and after class take their children back home after the vaccination.’
Fr. Jaison also said that they made videos of the vaccination, which was telecasted to the students the next day. Some students, he informed, were absent on the vaccination day. He dismissed reports that parents came charging the school authority on the vaccination day, clarifying that it was just rumours as nothing of that sort happened.
Mission Director, NHM Dr. Kevichüsa Medikhru said that percentage today was higher than the first two days, with positive feedbacks from many districts that most of the schools have received 100% vaccination.
He confirmed that there were no reports on the adverse effects of the vaccination from any quarters till today and dismissed the rumours as totally false. Dr. Medikhru said the team is trying its best to make people understand by even bringing those children who were admixture the vaccine on the first day.
Hopefully, he said the target will be achieved, while at the same time he maintained that the campaign is only not about achieving the target to make sure that children are saved from these diseases. He also informed that its officers and doctors were sent to those areas where the response is not very good adding it will continue to send its team to those schools where even one or two were missed.
The exact data and percentage could not be provided as the director informed that reports are still coming in from the districts at the time of filing this report.
