Vax crisis inherited, had no measles shots in stock when we took office: BNP govt

With child deaths from measles on the rise, the Tarique Rahman-led BNP dispensation said it walked into a full-blown vaccine crisis, claiming there was not a single measles shot in stock when it assumed office — remarks seen as a veiled criticism of both Sheikh Hasina’s govt and the Muhammad Yunus-led interim setup.“The current measles outbreak is because of the absence of regular nationwide immunisation programmes after Dec 2020 and the severe shortage of vaccines in subsequent years,” heath minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain said Sunday, referring to the tenures of the Hasina as PM and that of Yunus.In the wake of nearly 460 children dying — six in the last 24 hours — from measles and over 7,400 infected since mid-March, Bangladesh High Court admitted a plea seeking that Yunus and 24 others be barred from leaving the country pending completion of probe into the shortage of measles vaccines.On Monday, HC has adjourned the hearing on the plea seeking directions to form an independent investigation commission to determine the responsibility for irregularities, delays and administrative failures in the procurement and distribution of measles vaccines and to ban advisors of the interim govt, including Yunus, from leaving the country until Tuesday.Unicef-Bangladesh had repeatedly warned the Yunus-led interim govt about an impending vaccine shortage and the consequent risk of disease outbreaks, officials said, adding overall 42,092 suspected measles patients have been hospitalised of whom 37,744 have recovered.Following the years of gap in the measles vaccination campaign, the health minister said that with the help of Unicef, vaccination was restarted in 2026 after BNP assumed office, though he admitted that “in fact, when we started we did not even have a single measles vaccine in our hands”.Hossain said the situation has “improved somewhat” following extensive vaccination campaigns carried out in affected districts, upazilas and city corporation areas, even as health experts and doctors noted that the on ground situation is still dire. The steep increase has put health officials on high alert, especially in densely populated areas of Dhaka where the disease is spreading quickly.