Pediatrician at state-run Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) Dr. Ahmed Faisal has revealed that there is a school admitting unvaccinated children operational in Addu city.
Dr Faisal made these remarks upon rising public concern due to students returning to school during the re-emergence of measles in the Maldives, after one and a half years of elimination.
The doctor said students must be accepted at school after receiving the proper vaccine doses, further stating that those vaccinated will not face or pose threat of the disease.
In a post on Twitter, he wrote: "The issue here lies the admittance of unvaccinated students. There is a school that accepts these children in Addu".
Several people have been raising questions regarding name of school. However, Faisal has refused to comment on the matter, instead stating that the government is well aware of several schools that admit unvaccinated children.
"While an intervention is necessary, there is no justice obtained", he said.
Regarding Faisal's words, Dr Mohamed Ali affirmed that schools accepting unvaccinated children is a great danger to the public. He said that those enforcing anti-vaccination efforts were a threat to the security of the nation.
"It is your responsibility to pay heed, and eradicate these acts", Mohamed Ali wrote in a tweet tagging President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and the Maldives Police Services (MPS).
Relevant authorities reported the re-emergence after a 3-year old child was found positive with measles. Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that the child was not injected with the needed vaccine doses during infancy.
The only means to control the disease is to get vaccinated with Measles MMR and MMR, two doses of each.
As an affected person carries the virus, even if he/she leaves a location, the virus will linger for the duration of an hour. Thus, infecting anyone that arrives on site.
While measles kills about 134,000 people around the globe every year, Maldives was awarded for eliminating the disease on the 7th of September, 2017.
World Health Organization (WHO) declared Maldives a measles-free country on June 2017, as there had been no sign of the disease in the country since 2009.
Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease. The vaccination for the illness was instigated in the Maldives in the year 1979.
Signs and symptoms of measles appear after ten days of being affected. These include; ear infection, pneumonia, lung infection, brain disorders, blindness, and prolonged diarrhoea.
A portion of the Maldivian community have been expressing disapproval towards the notion of vaccinating their children.
