Over 600,000 children immunized against measles since August

More than 600,000 children have been immunized against measles in the Liberian capital Monrovia and two nearby counties since peace returned to the country in August, UNICEF said on Thursday. The organisation said it aimed to complete coverage of Montserrado and Margibi counties, just to the north of Monrovia, by the end of this year. Boubacar Dieng, an immunization officer with UNICEF in Liberia, said the measles campaign would be extended to Bong County in central Liberia in January. Eventually, it would reach 1.4 million children aged between six months and 15 years throughout the country, he added. Already immunization teams have been active in Tubmanburg, a town 50 km northwest of Monrovia in Bomi County, which is controlled by the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement. They have also begun vaccinating children against measles in Buchanan, a port city in Grand Bassa county, 120 km southeast of the capital. This is held by the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), another rebel group. "From August up to now, close to 630,000-650,000 children have been immunized against measles," Dieng told IRIN in an interview on Thursday. "What UNICEF is doing now is to supply 1,650,000 doses of measles vaccine targeting 1,400,000 children", he added. The vaccine is administered orally by droplets into the mouth. Dieng said the immunization campaign was being carried out jointly by UNICEF, Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, World Vision, Merlin, Medicins San Frontieres, the Liberian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization. UNICEF was supporting an Expanded Programme on Immunization to protect Liberian children against several diseases such as Tetanus, whooping cough, polio as well as measles, he added. Dieng said the vaccination campaign for children would eventually be extended to include pregnant women, young mothers and other women of child-bearing age.