Govt to administer another 16 lakh measles-rubella vaccine doses

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched an initiative to vaccinate all children in Bangladesh who have so far missed their measles-rubella (MR) doses.

The ministry has also decided to train doctors on the use of measles treatment guidelines to ensure they are widely and effectively implemented.

The decisions were made at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee (ICC) on immunisation held at the health ministry on Sunday, chaired by Health Secretary Md Kamruzzaman Chowdhury.

The health secretary said the meeting reviewed the country’s ongoing measles outbreak and brought together key stakeholders to assess the situation.

He said some children aged between six months and five years in several areas had yet to receive the vaccine and would now be brought under the immunisation programme. The government currently has another 16 lakh vaccine doses in stock.

Data presented at the meeting showed that 10% of measles patients were under six months old, 74% were aged six to 59 months, 14% were between five and 10 years, and 2% were aged 10 to 14 or older.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 19,363,912 children aged six months to five years received a single measles vaccine dose between April 5 and August 17.

The DGHS also reported seven additional deaths among people showing measles symptoms in the past 24 hours, raising the number of suspected measles-related deaths this year to 815. Laboratory tests have confirmed 99 measles deaths, taking the overall toll to 914.

Most of the deceased were children under five, many of whom had not received measles vaccination.

The health ministry said missed children would be identified and vaccinated promptly, while doctors would be trained to strengthen measles case management and improve treatment outcomes.