Three lakh Rohingya children to be vaccinated for rubella
A vaccination campaign against rubella (German measles) began at Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar and nearby areas yesterday.
The four week-long campaign aims to vaccinate over 315,000 children aged between six months to 10 years, said a press release.
Led by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with support from World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef and other partners, the campaign aims to reach vulnerable children of the targeted age group, especially those who missed some or all previous rubella vaccination opportunities.
Rubella is a milder form of measles, which is a severe disease with fever and rash. Measles infections have previously caused deaths in the camps. The rubella vaccine is safe for all children and offers protection against both diseases. All eligible children will be vaccinated irrespective of previous immunisation history. A small number of vaccine recipients may develop mild fever. If a child in the family gets fever after vaccination they should go to the nearest health facility, the press release added.
The vaccination teams consist of 132 trained vaccinators, 264 volunteers, 1,400 community health workers and 2,000 majhi. Some 30 supervisors and 68 camp coordinators will support the campaign.
The campaign will be monitored by health ministry, Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, WHO, Unicef, UNHCR, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, icddr,b and other partners.
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