Huge Measles Vaccination Program Across China

Regions across China are busy with a massive vaccination campaign against measles as the country seeks to eliminate the disease by the end of 2012.

Health authorities say they have done all they can to ensure the success of one of China's biggest public health campaigns.

Zhang Ru has the details.

The nationwide vaccination campaign has entered its fourth day with tens of thousands of children already inoculated.

In Shanghai, the program to protect nearly 2 million children has gone smoothly. Some pupils say they were even feeling good at receiving their injections.

"I felt just a little tickle when I had it. I was not afraid."

"I was told to avoid any strenuous physical activity after the inoculation, also to have more rest and drink more water."

China launched the vaccination program for an estimated 100 million children on Saturday.

The ten-day nationwide campaign mainly targets children aged between eight months and 14 years.

In Beijing, health authorities have set up 3,000 temporary sites to deal with the massive task of inoculating 2 million children within ten days.

Huang Chunming, Vice Director of the health bureau in Beijing's Haidian district, says they are well prepared for any emergencies.

"All temporary vaccination sites within our district have ambulances around in case of emergencies. Each ambulance has specialized doctors and relevant equipment in place."

Lisa Cairns, head of the immunization team at the World Health Organization's China office, is also paying close attention to the vaccination campaign.

"In terms of how things are actually going in the field, I'm in Shaanxi (province) right now and we are visiting a number of vaccination sites. All the sites we've visited have shown, I would say, excellent preparation and organization and they've also prepared very carefully, every site that I've visited, for any kind of reaction to the vaccine that might occur."

Cairns says that China reported more than 52,000 cases of measles last year, representing 18 percent of all cases around the world. She believes the campaign is of global significance as it will bring China much closer to eliminating the disease.

Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu has said that eradicating measles by 2012 is the Chinese government's commitment to its people and the international community.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that affects both children and young adults. Its symptoms are high fever and rashes. Most people recover within two to three weeks but some may suffer serious complications such as blindness, encephalitis and pneumonia.

For CRI, I'm Zhang Ru.