All children to be brought under measles vaccine coverage within a week: Health Minister

All children across the country are expected to be brought under the measles vaccination campaign within the next week, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain has said.

The minister expressed this hope while speaking at an event at the TB Hospital in Shyamoli, capital, on Thursday morning, April 30.

"We have already covered 61 per cent of our target. Within the next week, 100 per cent of children will be covered by the measles vaccine," he said.

The vaccination drive was originally scheduled to begin on May 5 but was advanced by 14 days, starting on April 20 instead.

The minister noted that no measles vaccination had been administered to children for the past six years . He acknowledged that without the joint assistance of UNICEF, Gavi, the World Bank, and the United States, the country's situation could have been much worse and the damage far greater.

Regarding the transfer of medical supplies, Sakhawat Hossain said the United States has provided 600,000 GeneXpert cartridges and tuberculosis-preventive drugs for 11,000 children, which will contribute to controlling tuberculosis in the country.

During the event, the health minister officially handed over the GeneXpert cartridges and paediatric TB prophylaxis drugs from the US government to the National Tuberculosis Control Programme. He also presented the progress of the nationwide measles vaccination campaign.