By Tony Winterburn • Published: 15 Apr 2020 • 9:03
The World Health Organisation (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.”
Around 10 million students across Spain are at home in a bid to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the measures affected children in kindergartens, early, primary and secondary education, as well as university students. The problem is that the vaccinations programme has been put on hold putting potentially thousands of children’s lives at risk.
The viral disease is highly contagious but can be prevented by mass immunisation, which would normally mean babies and children being vaccinated as part of routine health services. It is hoped that Spain’s Ministry of Health will shortly make a statement regarding the resumption of measles vaccinations in all schools across Spain.
Unicef says 117 million youngsters in 37 countries may not get immunised as Covid-19 forces social distancing and piles pressure on health services.
Measles immunisation campaigns in 24 countries have already been delayed as medics look for ways to combat coronavirus and many more may be postponed putting children in dozens of countries at risk.
The revelations come from the Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI), which is backed by the World Health Organisation and the UN children’s fund Unicef.
“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,” it said in a statement.
“While we know there will be many demands on health systems and frontline workers during and beyond the threat of Covid-19, delivering all immunisation services, including measles vaccines, is essential to saving lives.”
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