Pune: The recent outbreak of Guillain-Barré Syndrome has turbo-charged vaccine hesitancy among parents, paediatricians warned this week, saying that if left unaddressed the reluctance had the potential to put scores of children at risk.
The rumours, some of them even claiming vaccines led to GBS, appeared to have taken grip. "I'm not taking any chances," said a 39-year-old mother who said she was part of a social media group "where the issue was discussed".
"It made me reconsider. My daughter is 10 months old and I've now decided to postpone her MMR dose till I've finished my own research," she said.
The MMR vaccine — against measles, mumps and rubella — is among the most important early inoculations for children. It comes in two doses: the first one at 9-12 months and the second at 15-18 months.
"But many parents are now completely avoiding it," said Dr Pradeep Suryawanshi, from the department of paediatrics at Sahyadri Hospitals.
He said: "Social media posts wrongly linked the GBS outbreak to vaccination, even though we know it was caused by a waterborne infection. Parents linked two unrelated issues. Also, misinformation linking MMR vaccine to autism has resurfaced, despite research disproving a link."
Paediatrician Dr Sanjay Lalwani, from Bharati Hospital, said certain vaccines have had a "rare association" with autoimmune disorders such as GBS. "Flu vaccine was shown to have a rare association with GBS, not other vaccines. But the benefits of vaccination far...
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