KARWAR: The monkey fever has reared its ugly head again in Siddapur taluk of the district. But, the district administration is more worried about vaccination, which is moving at a slow pace due to people’s unwillingness to get vaccinated, to avoid further spread of the disease. The number of people tested positive for Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) might be less than 10 this time, but there are not many takers for the vaccine also. According to doctors here, it is not a serious situation as there has been no death so far. But their worry is about the vaccination.
“The matter is not serious compared to previous years. We have started giving vaccinations, but many people are yet to get themselves vaccinated. We have started the vaccination drive but people are not responding positively,” Sharad Naik, DHO, U-K Express. He said a doctor based in Honnavar has been entrusted with the KFD prevention and vaccination drive. Satish Shet, medical officer incharge of KFD, said that there has not been much-expected response from people for the vaccination.
“We delayed the vaccination programme. Moreover, there are not many takers for it,” he said. He said that the department will go for some promotional activities in the coming days. He said that the vaccination should have started in December 2021 so that the immunity could have been built by now.
Though he said that there has been no death due to KFD, locals say that there was one death due to the fever and the person was serious and had been admitted to a hospital. On the poor response to the vaccination drive, Vasudeva Gouda of Siddapura said that the vaccination will cause fever and body pain. “Any person who gets this vaccination will be tired and immobile for some days. Who will pay us if we lose one week’s work” he asked.