Bangladesh conducts emergency measles vaccinations as outbreak kills more than 100 children

Bangladesh is conducting emergency measles-rubella vaccinations while trying to contain an ongoing outbreak that has killed more than 100 children in less than a month.

The government, in partnership with the World Health Organisation, the UN children's agency and the Gavi vaccine alliance, began working to vaccinate children aged 6 months to 5 years old in 18 high-risk districts on Sunday and will expand nationwide in phases from next month, a joint statement said.

A Unicef official said the agency was deeply concerned about the sharp rise in cases, which was putting the youngest and most vulnerable children at serious risk. "This resurgence highlights critical immunity gaps, particularly among zero-dose and under-vaccinated children, while infections among infants under nine months, who are not yet eligible for routine vaccination, are especially alarming," said Rana Flowers, the agency's representative in Bangladesh.

More than 900 cases of measles have been confirmed among 7,500 suspected cases reported since March 15, according to the official data in the South Asian nation of more than 170 million people.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease causing fever, respiratory symptoms and a characteristic rash and can sometimes have severe or fatal complications, especially in young children, according to WHO.

Vaccination is crucial to preventing the spread of measles, but the WHO says 95% of the population has to be vaccinated in order to stop the disease from spreading.

Bangladesh's health minister responding to questions in parliament said Monday that the new outbreak was caused by the mismanagement and failures of past governments.

He said the previous government of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and an interim government headed by Nobel peace prize laureate Muhammad Yunus failed to make proper decisions regarding vaccine stockpiles, causing shortages affecting vaccines for measles and six other diseases.

The vaccination campaign for measles was disrupted during Bangladesh's recent political upheavals. Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising in 2024, and Yunus led an interim administration that transferred power to an elected government after an election in February.

Authorities are advising parents to go to hospitals whenever someone is suspected to have measles.

"They should avoid taking medicine from shopkeepers unnecessarily. If a child has a fever, especially high fever - 101, 102, 3, 4 (Fahrenheit, or higher than 38.3 Celsius) - they should not rely on medicine from local shops," said FA Asma Khan, deputy director of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Dhaka.

"Instead, they must take the child to a hospital as soon as possible, because our medical officers are capable of providing proper basic treatment," she said.

Since the launch of a massive immunization campaign in 1979, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress, raising the coverage of fully immunized children from just 2% to 81.6%.

But Unicef warned last year that while Bangladesh has made strong strides to increase immunization coverage, stark disparities persist.