November 12, 2020

Anna Murray 

Measles cases rose to 869,770 in 2019, which had reached the highest number of reported cases over the past 23 years, based on a report published on November 12th by the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The number of deaths all over the world due to measles has increased by almost 50 percent since 2016, among which about 207,500 dead in 2019.

The report stated that failing to inoculate children in advance with two doses of measles-containing vaccines (MCV1 and MCV2) is the main reason for causing the increases in cases and deaths.

Even if the cases of measles are lower in 2020, WHO and CDC gave notice that it may disrupt vaccination of measles when global government are dealing with Covid-19 pandemic. Up to November, over 94 million people were facing the risk of missing vaccines owing to ceased measles campaigns in 26 countries.

WHO suggests that vaccination coverage rates with the needed MCV1 and MCV2 must come to 95% at national and subnational levels so as to control measles and prevent eruption and deaths.

Photo:Webshot.