Some Countries Pausing Immunization Programs, Raising Risk of Measles Outbreak
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some poorer countries are putting a hold national immunization programs critical to the prevention of measles outbreaks. Public health experts from around the world say that the postponement of MMR vaccinations could put 100 million children at risk for measles. Mexico, Cambodia, Nigeria and some other less wealthy nations normally administer vaccines in communal settings, an approach that has been rendered unsafe by the novel coronavirus. “In our quest to vaccinate kids, we shouldn’t contribute to the spread of Covid-19,” said Dr. Robin Nandy, the chief of immunization for UNICEF. “But we don’t want a country that is recovering from an outbreak of it to then be dealing with a measles or diphtheria outbreak.” This public health problem has no easy answer, especially because the world was already experiencing a rise in measles outbreaks over the last several years.
Full Story: New York Times