At the opening ceremony of the International Pharmaceutical Industry Fair at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center last Sunday, Health Minister Sardar Sakhawat Hossain said in response to questions from journalists, “Measles vaccines were administered eight years ago, and none have been given since then.”
The context of the minister’s statement was the recent rise in measles cases and the initiative to procure new vaccines.
The minister’s comment is being discussed and criticized a lot on social media.
The data shows that vaccinations were not stopped. According to the government’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), vaccination rates, including against measles, for children aged 12 months ranged from a low of 89 per cent to a high of 103 per cent between 2017 and 2023. The lowest rate, 89.4 percent, was recorded in 2018, while the highest – 103.6 percent – was in 2022. However, in 2024 this rate came down to 86.6 percent and last year (2025) it came down significantly to 59.6 percent. This means that the regular vaccination program was continuing and high coverage was maintained until at least 2023.
An important distinction here is between routine immunization (EPI) and large-scale campaigns. Experts say the minister may be referring to large-scale campaigns, but presenting it as “no vaccine given” is misleading. Additionally, a nationwide large-scale campaign was conducted in December 2020, when measles and rubella vaccinations were administered across the country. Therefore, even if the minister is referring to the campaigns, that claim would still be wrong.
However, just yesterday (Monday), the minister again said, “There was a campaign in 2018, and there has been no campaign since then. The current measles cases that we are seeing – this outbreak is more severe in people who have not been vaccinated.”