117 million children could miss out on measles vaccine amid Covid-19 crisis, UN health agencies warn

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Measles, which causes coughing, rashes and fever, is highly contagious but easily preventable through vaccination
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David Child14 April 2020

More than 117 million children spread across dozens of countries could miss out on immunisation against measles amid the coronavirus pandemic, United Nations health agencies have warned.

Measles immunisation campaigns in 24 countries have already been delayed, and more will be postponed, potentially putting children in 37 countries at risk, the Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI) said in a statement on Tuesday.

M&RI is backed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN's children’s fund (UNICEF) and several other organisations.

“If the difficult choice to pause vaccination is made due to the spread of Covid-19, we urge leaders to intensify efforts to track unvaccinated children, so that the most vulnerable populations can be provided with measles vaccines as soon as it becomes possible to do so," the group's statement said.

"While we know there will be many demands on health systems and frontline workers during and beyond the threat of Covid-19, delivering all immunization services, including measles vaccines, is essential to saving lives that would otherwise be lost to vaccine-preventable diseases."

With the fight against coronavirus in most countries focused on keeping health workers safe from infection and imposing strict social distancing measures, the WHO has recommended that governments temporarily pause preventive immunisation campaigns.

That includes those carried out against measles, and other immunisation campaigns where there is no active outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease.

Among the countries to have already suspended measles inoculation programmes are Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, South Sudan and Ukraine.

The M&RI group said it supports the need to protect communities and health workers from COVID-19, but warned that this should not mean that children permanently miss out.

“Urgent efforts must be taken now ... to prepare to close the immunity gaps that the measles virus will exploit,” it said.

The WHO said in December that measles had infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, in what it described as “an outrage”.

The viral disease, which causes coughing, rashes and fever, is highly contagious but easily preventable through vaccination.

The UK continues to offer children the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine as part of its routine immunisation schedule.

However, last year the UK lost its measles-free status - three years after the virus was declared eliminated in the country - amid a rise in recorded case numbers.

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