Measles outbreak: Routine vaccination drives key to controlling epidemic, say experts

A shortage of anti-measles vaccines have been reported in basic health centres, govt hospitals.


Our Correspondent January 14, 2013
PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Merely administering anti-measles vaccines to children will not help check the epidemic that has claimed over 200 innocent lives in the province so far.

The authorities leading the immunisation campaigns need to be aware that the age of the child being vaccinated also matters, as administering the vaccine to a child younger than six months is not expected to protect it from the virus. This is mainly due the immaturity of the infant’s immune system and the presence of maternal antibodies.

Dr S Asad Ali, assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), made the observation at a public awareness programme organised to brainstorm ways to prevent and tackle the spread of the viral disease. Medical experts present at the event on Monday agreed that routine vaccination campaigns were the key to solve the problem.

Children are supposed to get two dozes of the vaccine at periodic intervals, said Ali. “Studies have shown that children who failed to respond to their first dose of vaccine develop immunity after receiving their second dose”.



Malnourished children are particularly at risk of contracting the Rubeola virus, which heralds the onset of measles. The viral disease can further lead to pneumonia, diarrhea, encephalitis, and if not treated in a timely manner, also death, said Dr Anita Zaidi, professor and chairperson of AKUH’s paediatrics department.

The disease usually spares adults because they might have acquired immunity to it or had themselves been vaccinated earlier on. It can be fairly deadly, as one of every 20 people who contract it dies.

Multiple underlying factors can explain the rise in number of measles cases in the province. A shortage of vaccines has been reported at various basic health centres and government hospitals. The provincial government has claimed that it has vaccinated around 2.9 million children under a “crash programme” in the eight worse hit districts in Sindh. The next round of anti-measles vaccines will be administered to children in these districts in February.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2013.

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