A severe measles outbreak in Bangladesh has surged past 7,600 suspected cases and killed over 100 children in recent weeks, prompting an emergency vaccination campaign.
Bangladesh is racing to contain a rapidly escalating measles outbreak that has killed almost 400 people. The Directorate General of Health Services reports that the number of suspected cases has surged to over 56,000, with regional media outlets saying many hospitals across the country are overwhelmed. That number of suspected cases has more than doubled since the beginning of April. CBS News has asked Bangladesh’s public health minister Dr. M A Muhit to comment on the country’s handling of the outbreak, but there was no response from his office by the time of publication. Local news outlets have shown images of overcrowded hospitals, with some patients receiving treatment on floors due to a lack of beds. More than 900 cases of measles have been confirmed among 7,500 suspected cases reported since March 15, according to the official data in the South Asian nation of more than 170 million people.
Emergency Vaccination Campaign Targets High-Risk Districts
In response to the mounting death toll among young children, the government launched an emergency vaccination initiative in partnership with international aid organizations. DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh is conducting emergency measles-rubella vaccinations while trying to contain an ongoing outbreak that has killed more than 100 children in less than a month. The government, in partnership with the World Health Organization, the U.N. children’s agency and the Gavi vaccine alliance, began working to vaccinate children age 6 months to 5 years old in 18 high-risk districts Sunday and will expand nationwide in phases from next month, a joint statement said. At least 130 children have been reported dead, including 113 suspected measles deaths and 17 confirmed fatalities in the last six weeks, according to Bangladesh’s latest health data released on Sunday, as authorities have launched an emergency measles-rubella vaccination campaign amid a sharp rise in the outbreak’s death toll. The nationwide campaign, which aims to immunize more than 1.3 million children aged between six months and under five years across 30 upazilas, or regional administration, in 18 high-risk districts, is being carried out under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), with health care workers deployed across targeted regions like Northern Bangladesh, which has been affected the most, to reach vulnerable populations.
Political Upheaval and Vaccine Supply Disrupted
Bangladesh’s Health Minister Sardar Mohammed Sakhawat Husain, responding to questions in Parliament, said Monday that the new outbreak was caused by the mismanagement and failures of past governments. He said the previous government of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and an interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus failed to make proper decisions regarding vaccine stockpiles, causing shortages affecting vaccines for measles and six other diseases. The vaccination campaign for measles was disrupted during Bangladesh’s recent political upheavals. Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising in 2024, and Yunus led an interim administration that transferred power to an elected government after an election in February.
Miguel Mateos Muñoz, with the United Nations children’s charity UNICEF in Bangladesh, told CBS News that there had been an attempt to change the vaccine supply by the government last year, which led to vaccine delays, and added that they also observed a worrisome amount of partly or unvaccinated children over the last three years, noting that to be effective there should be two doses of the vaccine, but they were seeing children who had received either only one dose of the vaccine or no vaccine at all.
Vulnerability Among Young Children and Clinical Warnings
Aid agencies emphasize that the crisis is disproportionately affecting infants and toddlers who missed scheduled doses. A UNICEF official said the agency was deeply concerned about the sharp rise in cases, which was putting the youngest and most vulnerable children at serious risk.
Rana Flowers, the agency’s representative in Bangladesh, stated that that resurgence highlighted critical immunity gaps, particularly among zero-dose and under-vaccinated children, while adding that infections among infants under nine months, who were not yet eligible for routine vaccination, were especially alarming.
Dr. ANM Nuruzzaman, a public health specialist, told Anadolu that the vaccination drive is critical to preventing further loss of life, especially in densely populated and underserved areas where healthcare access remains limited. Authorities are advising parents to go to hospitals whenever someone is suspected to have measles.
F. A. Asma Khan, deputy director of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Dhaka, stated that people should avoid taking medicine from shopkeepers unnecessarily, explaining that if a child had a fever, especially a high fever — 101, 102, 3, 4 Fahrenheit, or higher than 38.3 Celsius — they should not rely on medicine from local shops, and instead urged that they must take the child to a hospital as soon as possible because their medical officers were capable of providing proper basic treatment.
Global Implications and Overseas Health Risks
International health experts warn that the scale of the South Asian outbreak poses a broader threat. A measles outbreak in Bangladesh that has killed almost 400 people is spreading fast, and health experts say it could carry risks even for the U.S., where cases of the disease are already at levels not seen in decades as vaccination rates continue to fall. Measles is among the most contagious viruses in the world, and the World Health Organization says 95% of the population has to be vaccinated in order to stop the disease from spreading.
