Nearly 15 million children have been vaccinated against measles in Ethiopia in an effort by the health authorities to maintain essential health services, even as they battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, according to World Health Organization. The campaign’s target was 15 million children and it attained 96 percent coverage numbered 14.4 million, showing that even with an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, countries can continue to carry out life-saving mass vaccinations. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to set the region back even further. Initial data from the first quarter of 2020 indicates that 1.5 million more African children missed the first dose of measles vaccine compared with the same period last year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least nine scheduled measles vaccination campaigns in Africa were or continue to be at risk of being cancelled, which could result in further outbreaks in 2020 and beyond.

Source: Ethiopian News September 06, 2020 09:56 UTC