Children’s mass vaccination drive in works

Cape Town - With close to 300 cases of measles reported in South Africa between October and December, local health authorities have warned caregivers to vaccinate their children as the majority of cases were in the 5-9 year age group.

Measles is a disease caused by infection of the measles virus, which spreads through respiratory droplets when a person with the virus coughs or sneezes.

Symptoms usually include fever, cough, red eyes and a rash.

Measles is extremely contagious and is one of the most easily spread viruses that infect humans.

It is particularly dangerous for children, who may develop severe complications (such as pneumonia or brain swelling) because of measles.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in total, 297 of laboratory-confirmed measles cases were reported in South Africa for specimens collected from epidemiological week 40 (ending October 8, 2022) to epidemiological week 51 (ending December 24, 2022) across all provinces.

While the Western Cape only reported three cases, a total of 285 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported from five provinces with declared measles outbreaks in Limpopo (128 cases), Mpumalanga (68 cases), North West (69 cases), Gauteng (13 cases) and Free State (7 cases).

“The age of laboratory-confirmed cases across the five provinces ranges from two months to 42 years.

“The majority of cases 118, (41%) were in the 5-9 year age group, followed by 80 (28%) in the 1-4 year age group and 42 (15%) in the 10-14 year age group. Of the 285 cases, the vaccination status of 84 (29%) was known, of whom 33 (39%) were vaccinated,” the NICD said.

The Western Cape Health Department said measles was easily prevented with a double vaccine dose, which was usually administered by the time a child was 4 years old.

The department said it was embarking on a mass vaccination campaign from next month.

“As part of nationwide efforts to contain large measles outbreaks, the Western Cape Department of Health will be administering additional booster doses to every child under the age of 5 (approximately 560 000 of the province’s population) from February 6-17, 2023.

“The department is encouraging parents to support the measles vaccination campaign by ensuring that they keep up with their children’s immunisation schedule and being alert to the symptoms of measles, a preventable disease,” said provincial health spokesperson Mark van der Heever.

“Too many children right now are being left without protection against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. As a result, the risk of large outbreaks has increased.

“Ensuring that children are up to date with their routine immunisations is crucially important. Children are provided with the MeasBio vaccine at six months and 12 months old. These vaccines are available free of charge at public health facilities.”

Cape Times