Measles cases hit 23-year high in 2019, another spike feared as COVID-19 rages on

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Measles immunization success requires 95 percent of children to be vaccinated on time

Henrietta Fore, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director, said while measles is preventable, success requires 95 percent of children to be vaccinated on time with two doses of measles-containing vaccines (MCV1 and MCV2).

The UN reported that MCV1 coverage has been stagnant across the world for more than a decade at between 84 and 85 percent, while MCV2 coverage has been steadily increasing but is still only at 71 percent.

“Before there was a coronavirus crisis, the world was grappling with a measles crisis, and it has not gone away”, Fore said in a statement. “While health systems are strained by the COVID-19 pandemic, we must not allow our fight against one deadly disease to come at the expense of our fight against another.”

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