Philippines: measles outbreak kills more than 130 people | New

In the Philippines, health officials said more than 130 people, mostly children, had died of measles and 8,400 had fallen ill during an epidemic largely attributed to fears of vaccination.

Infections jumped more than 1,000 percent in Manila, the densely populated capital of more than 12 million people, in January over the previous year.

According to officials, about half of the 136 people who died of measles were children aged one to four. Many of those who lost their lives have not been vaccinated.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday a massive vaccination campaign that began last week in Manila and four provincial regions could contain the epidemic by April.

"No if, no, no conditions, just take your children and hope that the vaccines … will save your children," asked the parents. "It's the absolute answer to this epidemic."

In a televised message on Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte warned of deadly complications and urged that children be vaccinated.

According to Mr. Duque, a government information campaign helped restore public confidence in the authorities' vaccination program, tainted in 2017 by the controversy surrounding a dengue vaccine manufactured by the French manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur, which would have caused the death of at least three children. .

The Philippine government ended the anti-dengue vaccination campaign after Sanofi said that a study showed that the vaccine could increase the risk of serious dengue infections. The Dengvaxia vaccine was injected to more than 830,000 children as part of the campaign launched in 2016 under President Benigno Aquino III. The campaign continued under Duterte until it stopped in 2017.

"It seems that confidence has returned," Duque said of public confidence in the government's vaccination campaign, citing the vaccination of about 130,000 people out of 450,000 targeted by measles immunization in the metropolis. from Manila in just one week.

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus that can be transmitted through sneezing, coughing and close personal contact.

Complications include diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia and encephalitis – or swelling of the brain – that can lead to death.