Measles vaccination of missed children starts today, 3.4m to receive vaccines

Nearly seven months after the spread of measles began, the government is launching a special campaign again to vaccinate children who were missed. A total of 3.4 million children will be vaccinated. Public health experts say controlling measles will be difficult without identifying areas of infection, protecting all children at risk and taking measures to prevent transmission from patients.

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday, Friday, that Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain will inaugurate the nationwide special Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign 2026 at the T&T playground in the capital today, Saturday. Health State Minister MA Muhit will also be present. The campaign will continue until 31 October.

During this period, 3.4 million children aged 6 to 59 months will be vaccinated. These children were missed during the main measles-rubella vaccination campaign held from 5 April to 20 May. It should be noted that the health department made an error in setting the target for measles vaccination.

A measles outbreak began in the country in early March. Measles has still not been brought under control after seven months. According to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services’ integrated control centre yesterday, Friday, 1,201 people with measles symptoms sought treatment at hospitals across the country in the latest 24 hours, from 8am Thursday to 8am Friday. Three people also died with measles symptoms.

Data for the seven-month period show that 1,084 people have died of measles this year. Of them, 983 died with measles symptoms and 101 died from confirmed measles. During this period, 185,833 people across the country sought treatment for measles symptoms. A total of 21,015 confirmed measles case were recorded during this period. More than 5,000 patients were receiving treatment at hospitals across the country yesterday.

Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Pravath Chandra Biswas told Prothom Alo, “The main way to tackle a measles outbreak is vaccination. We want to bring all children aged 6 to 59 months under vaccination coverage. Routine vaccination will continue through the EPI, alongside the campaign.”

The health department launched the national measles-rubella campaign on 5 April without full preparation. Initially, it was launched in 30 upazilas and municipalities in 18 districts; from 12 April, it was expanded to four city corporations—Dhaka South, Dhaka North, Mymensingh and Barishal—and nationwide on April 20. At the time, the target was set to vaccinate 18,015,064 children in that age group. Later, calculations showed that the number of children in that age group was 4.4 million higher.

The campaign ended on 20 May. Vaccination data at the time showed that more than 100 per cent of children had been vaccinated in some areas. When asked why, officials of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) told the media that children older than 59 months had received vaccines in some areas, resulting in higher figures. On the other hand, surveys by the World Health Organization and UNICEF found many unvaccinated children in different cities and villages. Vaccination of children missed by the campaign continued even after it ended. As of yesterday, 19,861,530 children had been vaccinated.

Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Foara Tasnim told Prothom Alo that there had been some errors. There may have been errors in determining the number of children. There may also have been some errors while administering vaccines at the field level. Hopefully, those errors will not occur this time, she said.

An EPI official, speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity yesterday, said the number of children had been collected from each upazila. The vaccination programme would be conducted on that basis.

Multiple studies have shown that even children who are not yet old enough to receive the vaccine—that is, those below six months—have contracted measles. Many people older than 59 months have also contracted measles. Scientists say there is no benefit in vaccinating children below six months. On the other hand, the government has no plan to vaccinate those older than 59 months. Yet people in this age group are contracting measles and spreading the disease.

Since almost the beginning of the outbreak, public health experts have been advising measures such as raising awareness, keeping patients in isolation and arranging financial assistance for poor patients. Some have also advised vaccinating all children aged six months to 15 years. But the health department did not give importance to those recommendations.

Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Pravath Chandra Biswas told Prothom Alo, “When someone in a poor family contracts measles, it is difficult to isolate them. The house is small, and several people have to live in the same room. However, we hope that bringing all the children at greatest risk under vaccination coverage will help control measles to a great extent.”

Public health experts say the main goal of measles control should be to bring the measles situation back to its pre-outbreak level. There were no deaths from measles in the year before the outbreak, and only 132 people were infected in a year. Many believe that returning to that situation has become quite difficult for Bangladesh.

Mustaq Hossain, former chief scientific officer of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and a public health expert, told Prothom Alo that after the campaign began in April, infections declined at one point. They then increased again. Now, hotspots should be identified. No child in those spots should be missed. All children aged 6 months to 15 years should also be brought under vaccination coverage. It is important to urge people to follow health guidelines.