Vaccinate children for measles, mumps, rubella

Once again, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has issued a warning to all school principals in both public and private schools to ensure that all students have been given the full dosage of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines before they are enrolled in schools.

He said there has been a resurgence of MMR in Europe and the United States in recent times because of the lack of the uptake of the vaccination for measles.

TT's measles coverage data shows that this country has been able to keep the disease at bay, but that could now be changed because of vaccination hesitancy. Deyalsingh said reasons for vaccination hesitancy could be the success of the vaccination which gave people a false sense of immunity, religious beliefs, people's principles and myths about after effects of the vaccine.

Measles was eliminated in the Caribbean in 1992, but there has been a rise in figures over the past couple of years.

Speaking at the TT National Council of Parent Teacher Association's mid-year convention held yesterday at Valencia Secondary School, Deyalsingh said there has been a resurgence of a disease that was "once relegated to the dustbins of medicine.

"Measles was a thing of the past and it flew out of our minds. We need to step up our games, especially in private schools. They don't pay as much attention to this as do the public and denominational schools. We are going to enforce the law when the new school term starts. It is not that the public schools are not at fault in some cases, but it is the private schools where there are the most gaps."

Recently, Deyalsingh said that any student found not fully vaccinated against MMR will not be allowed to enroll in school, and that principals found doing so will be held culpable.

In TT, the first vaccination at one year stands at 90 per cent and the second vaccine stands at 92 per cent. The vaccines can be had at one year old and then at two years.