Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will inaugurate a nationwide vaccination campaign against measles on Monday (April 20) as five more children have died from the highly contagious viral disease and suspected infections in the past 24 hours until Friday.
"We are going to launch measles vaccination all over Bangladesh. The Prime Minister will inaugurate the programme in Bogura on April 20," said Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain while briefing reporters at the ministry's conference room at the Secretariat.
He firmly mentions that there is no shortage of vaccines in the country.
"I tell you clearly that we have no shortage of tuberculosis vaccine until next June," he said, adding, "We have no shortage of any of the nine vaccines. We have workers at the field level, we have syringes. We are bringing all the rest in the pipeline."
The government runs a vaccination campaign in the country under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) against nine deadly diseases, including measles.
Earlier, the health ministry had launched vaccination in 30 upazilas of 18 districts as per the advice of UNICEF in response to a sharp rise in measles cases in those areas.
Later it was extended to four more city corporations, including Dhaka south and north city corporations.
The minister blamed the sudden disruption in vaccination at the beginning of the new government on the previous administrations.
"You know that this ministry was in trouble for the past 17 years. No funds were used properly here. No decisions were taken in the public interest. It was a very difficult task for us to deal with it and bring it to a supportive stage or provide full health care to our people," he alleged.
Referring to the dengue situation, the minister said they are prepared to combat the disease and hospitals are ready for this.
Regarding manpower shortage in some dedicated hospitals, he said, "We have no shortage of isolation beds. We have sufficient ventilators. DNCC Hospital will need more nurses. I am asking you to send requisitions. We will get more nurses here on Sunday."
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported five more deaths including three from confirmed measles cases and two from measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours until 8:00am on Friday.
With this, the total confirmed measles deaths rose to 37 since Mar 15 and deaths from measles-like symptoms to 174.
DGHS bulletin said 1,115 new cases of measles symptoms were reported in the 24 hours with additional 127 confirmed cases.
Since Mar 15, a total of 21,467 symptomatic cases have been reported with 3,192 confirmed cases.
During the period, 13,898 patients were admitted to hospitals, of whom 11,243 have been discharged after recovery.
A total of 1.32 million children came under the ongoing special vaccination until Friday, it added.
nsrafsanju@gmail.com
© 2026 - All Rights with The Financial Express
