Measles cases on the rise: MOH urges parents to get their children vaccinated

On Thursday, 26 May, the Ministry of Health reported that the number of measles cases reported this year is almost triple of last year, urging parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that results in symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat and rashes. It can be spread through air droplets and direct contact with nasal and throat secretions.

As of Monday, there have been 50 measles cases reported, which was close to triple the amount of 17 cases that were reported around the same time last year.

Among these, 34 local cases involved children and 14 were between the ages of one and six who had missed their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.

Three of which were one-year-old children, meaning they had only received one dose of the MMR vaccination. The remaining 17 infants who are less than a year old and were not due for their jabs yet.

Measles vaccination or the MMR vaccination for children is compulsory in Singapore and the first dose should be given when the child turns 1, followed by the second does when the child is between 15 and 18 months.

MOH has advised parents that if their pre-school children have missed one or both doses of the measles vaccination, they should do so as soon as possible.

The same goes for family members or other caregivers who have not been vaccinated, or who have not gotten the full two doses.

For vaccinations, parents can head to polyclinics private general practitioner clinics and private paediatric clinics. It is fully subsidised for Singapore citizens at polyclinics and Medisave can also be used at private general practitioner and private paediatric clinics.

If you have any thoughts on this topic, do share them with us!

Source: todayonline

Image credit: (todayonline)