Rumeen Farhana, an independent MP from Brahmanbaria-2, has raised the issue of child deaths from measles, vaccine shortages, unpaid salaries of health workers, and field-level preparedness in parliament after a deadly outbreak across Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com.
In response, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain said that there was indeed a vaccine shortage, but the government has managed it; the stock is now "stable" and an emergency vaccination programme has kicked off.
In a notice calling attention to urgent matters of public importance in the session chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad on Wednesday, Rumeen said that the situation has become dire due to the gaps created in the regular vaccination programme in the post-COVID-19 period, nine-month arrears of vaccine transporters, manpower shortages in various districts, and the spike in infections in densely populated areas.
In response, the minister said that the measles vaccination programme has started from Apr 5, new vaccine procurement has been arranged by reorganising the unused Tk 6.04 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the programme will be launched across the country before the scheduled time.
Rumeen told parliament that the resurgence of measles has become a major obstacle to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
"According to the WHO [World Health Organization], to prevent a measles epidemic in a community, more than 95 percent of children need to be given two doses of the MR vaccine," she said.
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