Vaccines will not induce disorders affecting a child's memory & learning capabilities

Fake alerts, which included texts, audio and video clips, claiming that the vaccine is unsafe, first surfaced when India launched one of the world’s largest vaccination campaigns against measles and rubella on February 5, 2017, in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Lakshwadeep and Goa. Within a week, these generic rumours claiming a banned vaccine that affected a child’s memory and learning capacity was being pushed in India at the behest of foreign pharma companies.

These rumours spread like wildfire ahead of MR vaccination campaigns across India, in states as geographically and culturally diverse as Lakshwadeep, Kerala, Punjab and Manipur. Driven by the fake news, vaccine coverage had been low in states with a high Muslim population: 77.2% in Laskhwadeep (96.58% Muslim population), 84.6% in Kerala (26.56% Muslims), and 87.92% in Manipur (8.32% Muslims)