After polio, Bihar targets eradication of measles


After polio, Bihar has decided to seek eradication of measles by launching a special vaccination drive to cover nearly 13.5 million children from Monday, an official said.
The state health secretary Sanjay Kumar, who is also executive director of Bihar State Health Society, on Sunday said the state will now focus to fight against measles by increasing routine immunization.
“We are launching a measles catch-up campaign to vaccinate 1,34,33,835 children above 9 months and below 10 years of age with measles vaccine,” he told media persons here at a media interaction organised here by Unicef.
Sanjay Kumar said the 21-day special campaign was to immunize more than 80 per cent of the target age group, if not 100 per cent.
He admitted that Bihar is one of the 14 Indian states where measles vaccine coverage is below 80 per cent.
Noting Bihar has remained polio-free for over two years, thanks to the state government’s commitment supported by development partners in the polio eradication programme, Sanjay Kumar said: “Now, the focus is to work to increase rate of vaccination against measles in the state.”
Measles is a highly infectious disease caused by virus and spreading from person to person through coughing and sneezing.
According to Unicef’s health expert Dr Ghanshyam Sethy, measles kills nearly 1,00,000 children every year in India.

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