Measles fever on the rise in Selangor due to vaccination refusal

Cases of measles in Selangor in the first quarter of this year recorded an increase following the refusal of parents to allow their children to be given the vaccine jabs and immunisation.

Selangor Health director Datuk Dr Zailan Adnan said 403 measles cases in the state were reported in the first quarter of the year compared to 23 cases in 2014 and 498 cases last year.

"The refusal of the parents to get vaccinations and immunisations for their children is seen as contributing to the rise in measles cases in this state," he told a media conference after attending the forum "Is vaccination safe?" at the Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, here Sunday.

He said over 500 cases of vaccination and immunisation rejections were reported nationwide from January up till March this year.

The number was quite worrying when it showed a drastic upward trend compared to only 637 such cases reported in 2013, 918 cases in 2014 and 1,541 cases throughout last year, he said.

"In Selangor alone 29 families refused to have their children vaccinated due to various reasons such as thinking that the injection concerned has side effect in the first quarter of this year," he said.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Pharmaceutical Services Division Enforcement director, Tan Ann Ling, said the belief by certain quarters that vaccination and immunisation brought about a severe effect was not correct as statistics had shown otherwise.

He said, as an example, out of 10,000 vaccinations that were being given, 98 percent of the recipients did not faced any side effect otherwise known as Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) apart from mild ailments such as fever, headache or rash in the injected area.