Tamil Nadu - Madurai

JE vaccination: four more districts to be covered

MADURAI: Four districts in the State, including Madurai, have been chosen for the second phase of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccination to all children up to 15 years, a project to be undertaken in collaboration with the Union Government.

A two-day meeting of health officials held in Chennai last week under the aegis of Directorate of Public Health (DPH) discussed the modalities of ‘single dose’ vaccination in these four districts -- Madurai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Tiruchi.

Three districts -- Virudhunagar, Villupuram and Cuddalore -- were covered in the first phase last year.

Deputy Director of Health Services (Madurai) A. Palanichamy told The Hindu here on Tuesday that the particulars of number of children in the district to be vaccinated were being worked out.

“All children up to 15 years will be immunised for JE which is a mosquito-borne disease. A plan of action will be ready soon,” he said.

Giving further details about the inclusion of four districts, P. Padmanaban, Director of Public Health, said that there had been a drastic reduction of cases in the three districts where immunisation was carried out last year. “The selected districts will gradually have JE vaccination in the routine immunisation schedule to be supported by the Government,” he said and added that the commonly called ‘brain fever’ was one form of encephalitis.If unattended, JE could be fatal for children or cause permanent physical disability.

According to Dr. Padmanaban, the vaccination programme will be supported by the Central Government along with Path Finder International, a non-governmental organisation.

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