New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) Bangladesh’s measles outbreak has worsened with over 32,000 suspected measles cases and over 250 deaths, mostly among children, reported since mid‑March, a new report has said, blaming the interim government’s decision to halt vaccine procurement through UNICEF in September 2025.

The report from Bangladesh-based The Daily Star criticised the government’s decision that switched to an open tender process that was later delayed.

Despite warnings that the move could disrupt routine immunisation and trigger an outbreak, the government halted the procurement, after relying on UNICEF for a long time to supply measles-rubella vaccines, funded mainly by Gavi with government contributions, the publication cited a Science.org report.

The outbreak began in January in Rohingya refugee camps near the Myanmar border and has spread to 58 of the country’s 64 districts, causing over 21,000 hospitalisations, the report said.

Government data showed only 59 per cent of eligible children received measles vaccines in 2025 before those figures were later removed from official websites. The tendering process stalled amid bureaucratic delays, causing shortage of vaccine supplies and routine immunisation to falter.

Failure in vitamin A distribution campaigns since 2024 have further weakened immunity of children, according to ASM Alamgir, former principal scientist at IEDCR.

Despite Bangladesh reinstating vaccine procurement through UNICEF in April, followed by an emergency vaccination drive, the epidemic is unlikely to be quickly contained given the speed of transmission, said Be-nazir Ahmed, former director of disease control at DGHS.

Supreme Court lawyer Biplob Kumar Das has filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission over alleged corruption and vaccine-procurement failures under the interim government, the report noted.

Bangladesh’s 2023 Coverage Evaluation Survey found first‑dose measles‑rubella coverage dropped to 86 per cent in 2023 from 88.6 per cent in 2019, while second‑dose coverage fell to 80.7 per cent from 89 per cent over the same period. Measles transmission typically requires roughly 95 per cent coverage to be interrupted.

–IANS

aar/pk