What is the issue?
- Only about 50% of children between nine months and 15 years in the State were vaccinated at the end of the measles-rubella vaccination campaign period due to the rumours about the safety of vaccines.
- The campaign had to be extended for 15 days to cover over 95% of the target population.
What is the need for a Vaccine Safety Net site?
- The slip in vaccination coverage due to rumour-mongering is unprecedented for the State.
- But the misleading information about vaccine safety has been a menace across the world for many years now.
- Measles outbreaks in the U.K. in 2008 and 2009 and small measles outbreaks in the U.S. and Canada have been attributed to the non-vaccination of children as a result of unfounded fears.
- Chances are that many people inadvertently land on websites that contain wrong and alarmingly misleading information.
- Therefore the WHO launched the Vaccine Safety Net to provide doctors, parents and others access to “accurate and trustworthy information about vaccines.”
What is Vaccine Safety Net?
- It was launched in 2003.
- It is a global network of vaccine safety websites, evaluated by the WHO.
- It has 47 member websites in 12 languages.
- Websites are subjected to severe vetting by the Vaccine Safety Net before being approved to become a member.
- Websites are required to contain correct, unbiased information about vaccine safety and have no links with the industry to become a member.
- The Indian Academy of Paediatrics’ Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation Practices (ACVIP) is one of the members of the network.
- U.S. President Donald Trump has raised the accusations of the vaccine-induced autism through several tweets.
- The Institute for Vaccine Safety, which is a member of network, posted an article last month explaining why vaccines do not cause autism.
