After years of flip-flop, India, under its Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), has finally decided to roll out from next year vaccine against Rubella — a viral disease in pregnant women that can cause congenital deformities such as blindness, deafness and retarded mental growth to their child.
The National Technical Advisory Group for Immunisation (NTAGI), the highest technical body of the Health Ministry, recently recommended its introduction in the UIP and asked its sub-committee to frame a strategy to execute the plan, Anuradha Gupta, additional secretary in the Union Health Ministry told The Pioneer.
The UIP consists of vaccination for seven diseases- tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles and Hepatitis B. In most likelihood, the vaccine against rubella will be launched from next year in the UIP which is one of the largest in the world that targets 2.7 crore infants and 3 crore pregnant women every year.
Gupta pointed out that timely immunisation before pregnancy against rubella can save the newborn child from congenital deformities such as blindness, deafness, and retarded mental growth and heart problems. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already suggested the developing countries like India to introduce the vaccine against rubella under its national programme to save as many kids.
But the Ministry in the past had kept on dilly-dallying the matter, deliberating whether the vaccine should be administered to adult girls or pregnant women. But now as suggested by the NTAGI, pregnant women will be vaccinated with Rubella vaccine. Gupta said that it is essential to get vaccinated against Rubella three months before conceiving a child.
Presently, though the vaccine is not costly, however, very few people get the vaccination due to lack of awareness and economical reasons. Available data shows that approximately 20% of women in reproductive age group are susceptible to rubella. There is no hard data on incidence of CRS, but estimated incidence is 123 per 1,000,00 live births, according to a Government report.