Meerut: Blocking Rubella vaccine-drive saying it causes impotency, several madrassas across Uttar Pradesh have denied entry to health officials who had arrived to provide the students with measles-rubella vaccines. As reported by Swarajya, out of the 272 seminaries in Meerut, 70 have refused entry to the officials. Thus they have put lakhs of students’ health at risk.
With reference to Times of India, the magazine quoted Meerut’s immunisation officer Vishwas Chaudhary as saying that false information is being spread through WhatsApp that the vaccine can make a child impotent.
According to Dr BS Sodi, Saharanpur’s chief medical officer, some madrassas have even asked students to stay at home on the day of vaccination.
As per the report, in 2015, over 49,000 children lost their lives due to measles.
After the Department of Health (UP) sought assistance from the clerics to put an end to the fear that’s being spread online, Qazi Zainus Sajidin urged madrasas to permit entry to the health officers. In his speech, he said the doctors of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia have tested it and there is no side effect of the vaccination.