Measles Rubella Immunization Campaign: Challenges Faced in an Urban Area of Chennai.

Background: Like other countries in Asia, measles-rubella (MR) vaccine coverage in India is suboptimal whereas 90-95 % coverage is needed for elimination of these diseases. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) of the Government of Tamilnadu implemented MR campaign in February 2017 to increase MR vaccination coverage. Strategically, the MOHFW used both routine immunization centres and educational institutions for providing vaccine to the children aged 9 months to <15 years. This evaluation was carried out to assess the MR vaccination coverage. Objectives: To assess the MR vaccination coverage and barriers of vaccine coverage in the community Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in March and April 2017. Household visits were made to collect the data from 330 children using a pre-structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed by SPSS 20 using Proportions and Chi square tests. Results: Of the total 330 children surveyed, MR immunization coverage was 77.2% (255). Among the 255 vaccinated children 6.3% of them had mild fever after vaccination. 74.5% and 25.5% of them got the vaccination in their schools and government health centres respectively. Among the 75 non-immunized children, 62.8% and 29.4% were denied vaccination due to inflated information about the adverse events following immunization shared in television and social media respectively Conclusion: The results of our evaluation indicated that the campaign was suboptimal in terms of Measles Rubella immunization coverage. Achieving measles and rubella elimination worldwide will be an important milestone in public health, and every effort toward elimination, including vaccination campaigns should be of high quality and ensure adequate information regarding immunization and its effects to the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]