Officials at the CHD informed that all children under five years in the Eastern Region and the children of the Central Region, who missed the measles-rubella vaccines during a special MR campaign launched in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake of last April, will be immunized during this campaign. The CHD had launched a special vaccination campaign following the devastating quake to mitigate the risk of outbreak of the disease in the highly affected 14 districts.
"All the remaining children will be administered with the MR vaccines," Dr Rajendra Panta, director at the CHD said. He informed that the CHD will launch the campaign in the mountainous region only in April.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles is a highly contagious disease cause by virus and is one of the leading causes of death among young children globally.
Likewise, rubella is also a contagious disease. Rubella in pregnant women can cause congenital rubella syndrome with potentially devastating consequences to babies, according to doctors. They said that children infected with rubella at birth are at risk of several deformities and health complications such as slow growth, mental retardation, malformations of the heart and eyes, deafness and problems related to liver, spleen and bone marrow.
The CHD has included the MR vaccines in its regular immunization list as measles and rubella viruses easily spread infection among humans. The government aims to eliminate measles by 2016.
Director Panta informed that about 13 percent children are deprived of this vaccination. The efficacy rate of this vaccine is 80 percent. It is believed that every year about 1,400 children in the country are born with physical disabilities because of rubella infection.
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