Bangladesh will restart a nationwide measles drive on 25 September

Bangladesh will open another nationwide measles vaccination campaign on 25 September, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain said on Thursday in Dhaka. Most of the new doses have arrived through UNICEF. The rest are due by 17 September.

The minister spoke after a World Suicide Prevention Day seminar at the University Women's Federation in Dhanmondi. He said transmission continued after the emergency campaign of April and May, which is why a mop-up round already covered another 1.4 million children and why a larger drive will start again this month.

The Directorate General of Health Services columns, as compiled this week, show about 100 laboratory-confirmed measles deaths and about 900 deaths listed as suspected measles since the outbreak began in late February and March. Combined, the death count has passed 1,000. Suspected cases sit above 168,000. Confirmed cases are near 20,000. Hospitals have also been carrying a dengue load of more than 45,000 infections and 130 deaths.

Why April was not the end

A 2025 campaign was cancelled. An 18-million-child drive in April still left a gap measured in millions. The minister said most new patients had not received a measles shot. He also said the previous government had left no stock, and that his ministry has since procured more than 10 million doses and run the spring campaign with what it had.

Measles needs coverage well above 90 percent in each cohort to stop. A four-million-child hole after a mass campaign is large enough for the virus to keep moving through the next age band. That is the arithmetic behind a second national date. Hotspots identified in 20 districts earlier in the year will sit inside the 25 September plan rather than run as a separate list.

What 25 September has to do

UNICEF is the supply line. If the 17 September shipment lands, the campaign has product. If it slips, the date will slip with it. Cold chain and vaccinators are the other constraints. Bangladesh has run large campaigns before. It has not run one in the middle of a 1,000-death outbreak while dengue occupies beds.

Almanaque has already recorded the death tally crossing 1,000. Thursday's news is the calendar. A minister has named a start date, a supplier and a remaining cargo date. Parents of children still outside the register now have a two-week mark. The virus does not wait on that mark. The doses that are already in country can move before the 25th in the districts that are still reporting deaths. The nationwide banner waits for the rest of the UNICEF crates.