Measles, rubella vaccination team assaulted in Faisalabad

FAISALABAD: A vaccinator on Monday said a team administering measles and rubella vaccines in Faisalabad was subjected to assault.

Usman said the vaccinators Zulkaif and Saif were working in Union Council No 189 of the city. Some people asked them to clean their houses, but they refused saying that they were not sweepers, he said. Usman said upon refusal of the vaccinators to clean the house, they started beating them.

On November 12, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had announced that the government was launching an “ambitious campaign” to inoculate 91 million children between the ages of nine months to 15 years against measles and rubella from November 15.

“We are launching an ambitious campaign to vaccinate 91 million children (ages 9 months to 15 years) against measles and rubella, starting on November 15,” the SAPM had tweeted.

Read more: KP health dept launches massive anti-measles, rubella drive

Dr Sultan had remarked that the 12-day campaign was an indication of the “increasing capability of Pakistan’s vaccine programme”.

“This is the largest campaign of this nature in the world (in one phase) and involves 70,000 teams across the country,” he had claimed.

The announcement came as welcomed because medical experts had been demanding the government to focus on the issue.