Children�s vaccination needs support of all

Mmegi Editor | Wednesday July 27, 2016 10:48

The age group is estimated at 700,000, more than a quarter of the country’s population. These are mainly pre-school and primary school children and future leaders of this country.

We therefore urge all to support this vaccination to save more lives. We are aware that there are religious groups that do not believe in vaccinations, and who have in the past hidden their children away from health officials in previous campaigns  such as vaccination against polio. Religion plays a critical role in the lives of human beings and that shall not be understated by any individual or government institution. However, it is critical for the human body to be immunised against any diseases or conditions that can pose a serious threat to the wellbeing of a person. Even more importantly is that the vaccination involves young people who cannot make decisions on their own on whether or not to vaccinate. Therefore, their health is as important to them as religion is to their parents or guardians.

The ministry has reported that 935 cases of rubella were recorded between the year 2011 and 2015, and this represents a serious challenge in addition to intestinal worms and recent diarrhoea outbreaks in some parts of the country. The latter  was attributed to unsafe drinking water.

We urge all citizens to heed this call and avail their children for vaccination. We hope that our health authorities will also ensure that all children get vaccinated by availing resources such as transport to access most difficult parts of this country such as areas in the Kgalagadi Desert and Okavango Delta.

The aforementioned areas account to a huge number of children who neither have birth registrations nor any form of registration, who were born in abject poverty as a result of no form of education whatsoever for their parents. We hope the authorities will also visit children in farms who have no access to neither medical nor educational facilities whose only dream is to inherit their parents’ status as herdboys for their master’s cattle. There are many diseases that we have eradicated with the help of our external partners and we are confident that through cooperation, we can do the same with Measles Rubella. Let us support this vaccination campaign and save more lives.

Today’s thought

“Vaccines don’t cause autism. Vaccines, instead, prevent disease. Vaccines have wiped out a score of formerly deadly childhood diseases. Vaccine scepticism has helped to bring some of those diseases back from near extinction.” 

– Alex Pareene