Parents urged to vaccinate their children to prevent measles outbreak

The Health Department is calling on parents and caregivers to ensure that their child’s vaccinations are up to date, particularly for measles.

Health officials have warned that there is an ongoing risk of a measles outbreak in South Africa due to “sub-optimal” vaccination rates.

The World Health Organisation reports that Africa is experiencing a surge in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases over the past year.

Chief director for child health programme at the Department of Health, Dr Lesley Bamford, said there is no outbreak yet but parents and caregivers should take the warning seriously.

She said parents and caregivers need to understand that measles is a very contagious disease.

“We haven’t seen any increases in cases as of yet they have not been any indications of an outbreak. However we know that there is always a risk of such an increase and we are monitoring that carefully”

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