Dhaka: Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain today announced that all children in the country will be brought under measles vaccination coverage within the next one week. He made these remarks at a programme held at the TB Hospital in Shyamoli, the capital, this morning. The event was organized to hand over GeneXpert cartridges and tuberculosis prevention medicines for children, provided by the United States government, to the National Tuberculosis Control Programme.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Sakhawat stated that 61 percent of the vaccination target has already been achieved, and full coverage is expected within the next week. He highlighted that many areas have already reached full coverage, with no measles patients reported in the first 30 upazilas where the vaccination programme was initiated.
Discussing the state of measles infection and vaccination, he noted that no children had been vaccinated against measles for the past six years. The vaccination program was launched urgently, with significant support from UNICEF, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the World Bank, and the United States. Without this joint effort, the situation could have been much more severe.
The Health Minister elaborated that the vaccines were initially scheduled to be distributed nationwide on May 5, but the plan was expedited by 14 days. “When we received the measles vaccine, we did not wait for the scheduled time. We started working from April 20,” he said.
He also mentioned that the United States has provided six lakh GeneXpert cartridges and anti-tuberculosis drugs for 11,000 children, which will aid in controlling tuberculosis. The minister assured that there is no shortage of vaccines and syringes, and supplies will reach all vaccination centers across the country by tomorrow.