18 million children get jabs for measles, rubella

What you need to know:

  • Statistics. At least 300,000 cases of measles and rubella have been reported during the measles-rubella outbreak, with 46,000 patients and 587 deaths recorded and 95 per cent of the cases occurring in children between one to 15 years.

More than 18 million children under 15 years have been immunised against measles-rubella in the just-concluded mass immunisation campaign, the Ministry of Health has said.

Government had targeted to vaccinate 18.1 million children against measles–rubella but surpassed the target by vaccinating 18.7 million, according to the preliminary results.

“105.2 per cent have been vaccinated against measles rubella. Please note that these are partial results from 35,754 posts out of 37,398 vaccination posts countrywide. More results keep trickling in, especially from regions which were granted extension and those that have experienced a network of challenges,” Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, said yesterday.

According to the 2017 revision of the World Population Prospects, Uganda’s total population was 41.4 million in 2016. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2015 was 48.1 per cent.
This, therefore, leaves about 1.1 million not vaccinated. This number could vary with the 2019 population statics.

However, the government did not achieve the target with the polio vaccination with only 7.3 million children vaccinated against the targeted 8.2 million.
Dr Aceng said this is because polio was initially not to be part of the campaign.
Government has extended the immunisation exercise by two weeks for all the schools that did not carry out the exercise.

The measles-rubella vaccine is to be rolled out in the routine immunisation schedule in all health facilities until mid-November.

“The Ministry of Health working with partners will strengthen routine immunisation and will work towards making the second dose of measles-rubella vaccine available within the next two years,” Dr Aceng added.

Measles-rubella
Statistics. At least 300,000 cases of measles and rubella have been reported during the measles-rubella outbreak, with 46,000 patients and 587 deaths recorded and 95 per cent of the cases occurring in children between one to 15 years.