UNICEF, WHO to support Sri Lanka’s supplementary measles immunization activity

The phase one of the the supplementary immunization activity (SIA) implemented by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) to curb the spread of measles and protect vulnerable children across the country will commence tomorrow (6).

The Phase one of the project will prioritize the vaccination of children aged 6 to 9 months in nine high-risk districts with a dense population and increased incidence of measles.

Chief Epidemiologist Samitha Ginage of the Ministry of Health’s Epidemiological Unit says that the national program of giving extra doses of measles vaccine to children aged between 6 and 9 months in 09 selected districts will start today (06).

Currently, a measles epidemic is spreading globally in all countries of the world, including European and South Asian countries.

With Covid, the entire childhood vaccination program suffered a major collapse globally, as a result of which 25 million two-year-old children around the world in 2020 and 2021 did not receive any dose of childhood vaccinations, and another 15 million received partial vaccinations.

He pointed out that this group is at a greater risk of falling victim to epidemic diseases like measles in the future, and that measles is the disease with the highest transmission rate and that one measles patient has the ability to infect 16 people.

He recalled that measles is spreading like a big epidemic in our neighboring countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan and Indonesia and that even in the time of Covid, our country was fortunate to maintain the child vaccination program at an optimal level.

The doctor emphasized that the first measles patient was reported in Sri Lanka on May 23, 2023, and the vast majority of measles cases reported in the early stages are from those who did not get the childhood vaccinations properly.

The Chief Epidemiologist Mr. Samitha Ginage who mentioned that 49 percent of the 740 measles cases that have been reported so far have been reported from the Colombo district and said that the second highest number of cases are reported from the Gampaha district.

He said that as the first step, nine districts will be selected for giving the measles dose by identifying the places where there are more people who have refused to be vaccinated, and that this will be given as an additional dose of vaccine to children between 6 and 9 months of age.