The government should include MMR vaccine in the national vaccination programme, and a second dose of the vaccine could be given to protect the children who remain unprotected in spite of vaccination, according to Dr MA Phadke, consultant with UNICEF, and director of ARCON.

According to Phadke, the coverage of MMR vaccine leaves much to be desired, as per a recent study carried out nationally to determine the status of mumps vaccination and disease incidence in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups of 3832 children. The study revealed that only 53.7 per cent of children received the MMR vaccine, and the city wise break up were 50.8 per cent in Mumbai, 52.4 per cent in Delhi, 46.3 per cent in Vijayawada, 70.1 per cent in Hyderabad, 53 per cent in Kolkotta and 63.1 per cent in Bangalore and Mangalore. The incidence of mumps in the unimmunized groups was 16.9 per cent and the mean age by which mumps occurred was 5.7 years.

She said measles, mumps and rubella are highly contagious childhood diseases, which are important causes of significant morbidity and mortality, especially in the developing world. Measles kills nearly eight lakh infants and children annually, the majority in developing countries. For effective control of measles, the vaccine coverage should be over 95 per cent at least in municipal areas in the country, where the vaccine coverage is below 50 per cent in many states. In the case of mumps, it is estimated that the disease cause to lose 50 to 60 lakh school days.

About 40 to 45 per cent women in the country are susceptible to rubella, and over 2 lakh babies are born annually with birth defects due to the virus in the country. An Indian study had revealed rubella was the cause of disability in about one out of every five cases of congenital malformed babies. Further, a study in Madurai revealed that rubella caused congenital cataract in 26.3 per cent cases investigated, and a study in Chennai revealed it was the probable cause of deafness in 29 per cent of 374 deaf children. Rubella Intrauterine infection in the first trimester produces congenital anomalies like cataract, deafness, heart defects and mental retardation, said Dr Phadke, at an awareness programme on MMR vaccine organized by the Pune based Serum Institute of India in Chennai, last week.