Comeback of Diseases : Continuous Vaccination Dropout To Blame

Even after the resurfacing of deadly pandemics, parents still escape free vaccination programmes, especially those meant for children between 0-11 months. Even now that the programme has been extended to chil- dren from 0-54 months with certain vaccines, sources at the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), say the effective participation of pa- rents in vaccination programmes is still dwindling. Generally, after months of free vaccination, most children drop out of the vaccination calendar. The majority do not even reach two years of effective vaccination, much less of the age of five. Figures from EPI indicate that 8 per cent of children who got in contact with vaccination services would not complete the Pentavalent vaccine series and 41 per cent would not complete the Measles Rubella vaccine series. Also, over 5 per cent of chil- dren who begin their global vaccina- tion calendar do not complete the process. Last year, the East Region rated highest among parents who dropped out of the calendar followed by the Adamawa Region. This has resulted in the resurfacing of vac- cine-preventable diseases. Mariette Dounla is a mother of 10 children. But, when she gave birth to her first daughter, she started fol- lowing her vaccination calendar. When her daughter was five years, she stopped all vaccination programmes. Mariette says her second daughter undertook vaccination just for three months. She did not even complete the free nine months’ vaccination al- located by the Ministry of Public Health. The mother of ten says her third child took vaccines effectively for two months. The more she gave birth, the lesser the children got the necessary vaccines. At one point, some of her children were vaccinated just for the first three or four days she spent in the hospital after birth. Once she got home, she did not follow up on their vaccination pro- gramme. Mariette Dounla does not see any difference in the health si- tuation of her daughter who under- took vaccination up to five years. Besides the fact that Mariette Dounla is not informed about the importance of vaccination, she also complains of having no time and money to do so. Mothers are complaining of the extra money that is always demanded by certain health centres before vacci- nation. According to a mother in the Yaounde VII Sub division, Yamguette Carine Caramba, some health units ask for between FCFA 500 to 1000. They justify it as money for cotton, spirit and mineral water not given by the Ministry of Public Health. Yamguette Carine says her low in- come has caused her to drop out of her child’s vaccination calendar be- cause it bothers her each time her husband questions why she is asking for money to pay for vaccines that are supposed to be free. Others also complain of long wait and distance to cover before getting their children vaccinated. Tavgham Rosette Dagobert is one of those who stays far from her health facility and has to spend an entire day in the hospital for child vaccination. “On vaccination days, I go to the hospital around 5:30 a.m. and I end up leaving at 2:00 p.m. On days I do not go early, I see myself leaving the hospital late in the evening and that is what discourages me from going to the hospital for vaccination,” Tavgham ...