63,000 people underwent emergency vaccination against measles in Kazakhstan

More than 600 children in Kazakhstan underwent planned immunization [against measles - edit], which is 84% of all children aged from 1 to 6 subject to vaccination. 63,000 people underwent emergency vaccination. This is what Azhar Giniyat, minister of healthcare of Kazakhstan, said at the government’s weekly meeting today, Kazinform News Agency reports.

More than 3,500 beds have been prepared for patients with measles at the country's hospitals. 2,735 children are receiving hospital treatment now. Bed occupancy rate is 60%. The number of reserve beds is 1,093. High bed occupancy rate is observed in Zhambyl region – 92%, Almaty city – 88%, Turkistan region – 81%, and in Shymkent  city – 79%. 30 children including 15 infants were placed in ICU in severe condition. No fatal cases were registered, said minister of healthcare Azhar Giniyat.

According to her, more than 600 children were immunized, which is 84% of all children aged from 1 to 6 subject to vaccination. More than 100,000 children will undergo vaccination by the end of the year, she added.

Besides, over 15,000 people underwent emergency vaccination in the hotbed of measles. 63,000 people including unvaccinated minors underwent catch-up immunization. We also need to vaccinate 128,000 children. Given than 65% of those infected are children under five, we decided to carry out additional immunization of children aged from 1 to 5. 94,000 children have already been immunized. In general, more than 770,000 children have been inoculated with measles vaccine, the minister said.

As reported, the ministry has bought 1.5 million doses of measles vaccine. The first of 500,000 doses has already arrived in Kazakhstan. Another batch of 1 million doses will be delivered to our country in December.