Emergency vaccinations after 100 suspected measles-infected children died in a month in Bangladesh

 

Measles is suspected to have killed more than 100 people, mostly children, across Bangladesh since 15 March (Image: Getty Images)

Bangladesh has launched an emergency vaccination campaign after a fast-spreading measles outbreak is suspected of killing more than 100 people, mostly children, in what may be the country's most lethal wave of the disease in recent history.

 The campaign, which began on Sunday, comes amid more than 7,500 suspected measles cases since 15 March, according to health ministry data.

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 More than 900 of these cases have been confirmed - a sharp increase from 2025, when just 125 measles cases were recorded over the entire year, local media report.

 While Bangladesh has long vaccinated children against the highly contagious disease, the recent outbreak has exposed gaps in its programme, raising concern.

 "Vaccines are foundational to child survival," Rana Flowers, the Unicef representative in Bangladesh, said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the current measles outbreak was "putting thousands of children, especially the youngest and most vulnerable, at serious risk."

Why is there a spike in measles in Bangladesh?

In Bangladesh, a nation of 170 million people, routine measles vaccines are given to children as young as nine months old.

 However, the deputy director of the Health Department, Shahriar Sajjad, informed BBC Bangla that approximately one third of those infected during the most recent outbreak were infants under nine months of age.

The infections of these young infants "who are not yet eligible for routine vaccination, are especially alarming", said Flowers from Unicef.

 Every four years, in addition to the usual vaccinations, special measles vaccination campaigns are carried out in Bangladesh. But these campaigns haven't gone according to plan.

 There have been no special measles vaccination campaigns since 2020, first because of Covid then because of the "political situation", Sajjad told BBC Bangla.

 Bangladesh experienced political upheaval in 2024, when massive anti-government protests toppled its long-ruling leader Sheikh Hasina.  After Hasina was ousted, an interim government took over, and the country elected a new government only in February of this year. Sajjad stated that a measles vaccination campaign was planned for April of this year, but "it did not happen." The Daily Star reported that a health official claimed that issues with procurement had resulted in a shortage of vaccines, including those for measles. The new vaccine procurement system overseen by the former interim government has been blamed by many in Bangladesh for the vaccine shortages.

However, according to Unicef's statement, measles resurgences "are typically the result of these accumulated gaps rather than a single factor." "Bangladesh has a strong history of high immunisation coverage, but even small disruptions can lead to the gradual accumulation of immunity gaps over time."

In Bangladesh, measles vaccines are given to children from nine months old(Image: Getty Images)

What is Bangladesh doing about it?

Bangladesh has launched an emergency vaccination campaign for measles and rubella, a milder disease with similar symptoms to measles, with international partners like UNICEF and WHO. More than 1.2 million children aged six months to five years old will be the focus of this campaign, which began on Sunday and will be implemented across 30 upazilas, or sub-districts, in Bangladesh. According to Unicef, the focus of the campaign will be on "children who have missed routine immunization and are most vulnerable to severe illness and complications." There will also be a particular focus on Dhaka, the densely populated capital, and Cox's Bazar, home to crowded Rohingya refugee camps, Unicef said.

Health authorities are also publishing infographics to teach people how to identify and avoid measles in addition to the vaccination campaign.

What is measles?

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease, which can lead to severe complication and death.

 Common symptoms include:

 feverish state eyes that are watery, red, and sore coughing

 sneezing

 The World Health Organization estimates that 95,000 people worldwide will die from measles in 2024, the majority of whom will be children under the age of five. Measles can be prevented through vaccination - but according to the WHO, 95% of the population has to be vaccinated in order to stop the disease from spreading.

Are measles cases rising around the world?

The global incidence of measles and the number of measles-related deaths have significantly decreased over the past two decades. The World Health Organization estimates that there will be 11 million cases of measles worldwide in 2024, a significant decrease from 38 million in 2000. However, the organization has expressed concern about a resurgence in some regions of the world as vaccination rates decline. According to the medical journal The Lancet, there were the most outbreaks of measles worldwide in 2024 and 2025. Some countries in Asia and Africa, as well as Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, have seen an increase in measles cases as a result of the growing skepticism regarding vaccines following the pandemic. In February, an outbreak of measles in some schools in north London prompted health authorities to remind parents to vaccinate their children.

Source: BBC