“The outbreaks are occurring due to accumulation of susceptible children for more than two years,” says Dr Giridhar Babu, Epidemiologist at Public Health Foundation of India, who has worked in the National Measles programme in the past.
There was also a massive drop in routine childhood vaccination during the COVID pandemic, which experts had forewarned could lead to a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.
“This means that we have created new weaknesses because of India’s COVID response,” says Dr Harikeerthan Raghuram, a public health researcher working on vaccine equity in Bhopal.
Containing measles once it starts spreading is hard because:
“Up to 9 out of 10 susceptible persons with close contact to a measles patient will develop measles,” explains Dr Giridhar Babu.
However, the experts think it’s unlikely that the current outbreak will spiral into a catastrophic situation like with COVID-19.
“Proactive surveillance, and supplementary immunization activities (mop-up’s) can aid in breaking the chain,” says Dr Babu.
“We knew nothing about COVID, but we know about measles. We have a vaccine that is very effective in preventing infection, not just severe illness,” adds Dr Dutta.
To break it down further, unless the virus mutates in a way that it would evade vaccine protection, we are good.
