3 min readNew DelhiFeb 7, 2023 09:51 AM IST
First published on: Feb 6, 2023 at 02:48 PM IST
Four years after Delhi’s Measles-Rubella vaccination campaign was halted due to a court case on informed consent, the health department has rolled out a month-long campaign to vaccinate all children between the ages of six months and five years, irrespective of their vaccination status. The target population for the current drive is one-fifth that of the 55.5 lakh children between the ages of six months and 15 years who were supposed to get the vaccine in a school-based drive in 2019.
The campaign was revived after cases of measles increased across several states, including Delhi.
Instead of vaccinating the children in schools, the Delhi health department has now opted to vaccinate the 10.76 lakh eligible children only through its hospitals and dispensaries to circumvent the issue of informed consent. “Instead of schools, the vaccine will be available only in hospitals and dispensaries, so consent will be assumed for those who turn up to get it. We will vaccinate only those accompanied by their parents or guardians,” said a senior official from the health department.
“We have limited the campaign to only those below the age of five years because it is impossible to vaccinate the older children out of schools. Those under the age of five anyway come to these centres for routine immunisation,” the official said. Other than the hospitals and dispensaries, outreach programmes will also be conducted for vaccinating the children through anganwadi centres and resident welfare organisations among others.
The 2019 campaign was halted the evening before it began with parents filing a case complaining that no consent was sought. The government later proposed an opt-out method, where parents or guardians were supposed to inform the school that their child should not be given the vaccine. Otherwise, consent was implied.
The campaign, however, never took off because the court had asked the government to seek consent for all children and publish a detailed schedule of when the campaign would be carried out in each school. The health department had mapped out 10,000 formal and informal schools across the city for the campaign. All the vaccine doses were then shipped to other states.
The one-time nationwide Measles-Rubella vaccination campaign has already taken place in all states, except Delhi and West Bengal, with both now conducting it. After the one-time campaign to vaccinate older children, the vaccine was to be introduced as part of routine immunisation as part of the government’s aim to eliminate the diseases. The MR vaccine is a two-dose vaccine administered at 9-12 months and 16-24 months.
Although Delhi is one of the few states where the vaccine was administered even before, under the current campaign, the children will be given the vaccine irrespective of whether they have already received one or two doses of the vaccine earlier.
Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that causes fever, cough, and rashes, and complications like encephalitis or swelling of the brain can lead to death. Measles is also linked with secondary infections like pneumonia and diarrhoea. Rubella usually leads to mild fever and rashes but can cause spontaneous abortion or birth defects in pregnant women.
Instead of vaccinating the children in schools, the Delhi health department has now opted to vaccinate the 10.76 lakh eligible children only through its hospitals and dispensaries to circumvent the issue of informed consent. (Representational) 
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