Herd immunity essential to cap death toll rise

It is deeply alarming that the death march from measles still continues, bringing indiscernible grief to many families and bringing to light a serious gap in the measles vaccination efforts so far. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), three more children have died with measles symptoms in the past 24 hours (when it was read on Monday), totalling the number of deaths from the diseases to 994. Among them, some 100 children have reportedly died from confirmed measles, while 894 had measles symptoms.
And it is quite heart-wrenching that this scenario has resulted from a considerable gap existing in the authorities’ efforts to bring all eligible children under the coverage of the vaccination programme. We know that serious negligence was found in ensuring measles vaccines for children in the country, a failure which traces back to the time of the Awami League and the last interim government. And we are witnessing the severe consequence of this slackness today.
However, while the present government earlier claimed to have been working with utmost sincerity to bring this crisis under control and while official figures show that measles vaccination coverage now stands at around 99 per cent, the sporadic upsurge in measles cases compels us to doubt whether the figure truly reflects the reality. If it really did, then the number of measles infections and deaths is supposed to have declined.
Besides, it is also a serious drawback that many families are still unaware and do not seek medical treatment for their affected children until the cases become very complicated. This utter lack of knowledge is also to be blamed for the deepening of the crisis.
This is where the present government must extend its helping hand. It should intensify public awareness campaigns on the dangers of measles and the importance of timely vaccination, engaging the mass media, educational institutions, local government bodies and community leaders. Besides, the government must also ensure 100 per cent vaccination coverage, without which it will scarcely be possible to bring the current measles crisis under control. The authorities concerned should also launch some special campaigns to encourage early diagnosis and enhance referral systems at the union and community levels. This will help ensure herd immunity against measles attacks and hopefully save many lives getting lost to this preventable disease.