The measles outbreak in Samoa has been partly attributed to the deaths of two children in 2018 who received a wrongly-mixed vaccine.
Statistics from the Health Ministry of Samoa has shown that the measles outbreak has reached almost 4,000 cases and killed 53 people, 48 of which are children. The outbreak of measles in the country is partly attributed to the 2018 deaths of two children who received a wrongly-mixed vaccine.
The resurgence of measles
While measles deaths have dramatically declined globally since the 1960s, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of its return worldwide since 2017. Measles is a highly contagious illness that causes coughing, rashes and fever.
Measles cases have risen in recent years despite the availability of effective and safe vaccines. This was partly attributed to parents rejecting these vaccines for philosophical or religious reasons, or concerns that vaccines can cause autism.
Samoa's measles outbreak
As of Monday, the number of measles cases in Samoa is currently at 3,728, of which 198 new cases were recorded on Sunday and Monday alone. On November 20, the government declared a state of emergency in the Pacific island nation with a population of about 200,000.
UNICEF representative to the Pacific Sheldon Yett said: "The situation has a tremendous impact on everybody. People are nervous, people are seeing the impact of this disease. Samoa is a very small country and everybody knows somebody who's been affected by this."
Vaccination rates in Samoa fell to only 31%, compared to 99% in its neighbor islands of Nauru, Niue and Cook Island. This was partly due to the deaths of two children in July 2018 after receiving vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella.
It was discovered later that the nurses who administered the vaccine mixed it with an expired muscle relaxant, instead of water. The two nurses, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, were sentenced with five years imprisonment.
Yett emphasized: "We have to make clear that vaccines are perfectly safe. These deaths were due to human error. But the fact that you had two children die on the same day in the same institution, obviously caused a great deal of distrust towards the health system and towards vaccinations."
"It provided the perfect opening for people who wanted to spread misinformation and lies," he added.
