Over 81% children vaccinated against measles: Health Minister

More than 81% of children in Bangladesh have received measles vaccine and the government is working to achieve 100 percent coverage soon, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Husain said on Sunday.

“We have achieved 81% coverage in measles vaccination. The remaining children will brought under vaccination very soon,” the minister said at a press briefing at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka after the second session of the Deputy Commissioners’ Conference.

Measles is currently under control in the country and the death rate has declined significantly, he said.

There is an adequate supply of vaccines and distribution across the country is running smoothly, he said.

A nationwide emergency measles-rubella vaccination campaign was launched on April 20 to vaccinate around 1.8 crore children aged 6 months to under 5 years across the country.

Besides, on April 5, the government, with support from UNICEF, WHO and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, launched an emergency measles-rubella vaccination campaign to protect more than 1.2 million children aged 6 months to 5 years in 30 upazilas in 18 high-risk districts.

Meanwhile, 10 children died from measles and symptoms consistent with the highly contagious but preventable disease in the country in 24 hours till 8:00am on Sunday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Of the new deaths, one was confirmed as measles-related, while the remaining nine were classified as suspected. Of the suspected deaths, highest four were recorded in Dhaka.

With this, the total number of confirmed deaths from measles has risen to 50 and suspected deaths to 244 since March 15.