3OCT

Bangladesh: 1,030 die of measles in 2026

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13:42UTC

Bangladesh recorded 1,030 measles-related deaths by 14 September among 172,720 suspected cases; in all of 2025 it recorded 132 cases and no deaths.

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Key takeaway

A five-year gap between catch-up campaigns left Bangladesh's children exposed to measles.

Bangladesh recorded 1,030 measles-related deaths by 14 September, 100 laboratory-confirmed and 930 suspected, among 172,720 suspected cases⁠¹. The figures come from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), relayed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). In all of 2025 the country recorded 132 cases and no deaths, according to Al Jazeera⁠².

A campaign that began in April vaccinated 19.75 million children, beating an 18 million target. At one hospital, 86% of 57 children WHO died were younger than 15 months, and the routine first dose is given at nine months⁠³. Babies younger than that cannot be vaccinated and depend on the people around them being immune.

Second-dose coverage fell from 89% in 2019 to 80.7% in 2023, against the 95% two-dose coverage the World Health Organization says is needed to stop measles spreading⁠⁴. The last catch-up campaign ran in the winter of 2020-21; by our count, five birth cohorts have been born since without one. A campaign that beats its target reaches children after that gap has opened, and it cannot protect infants too young for the vaccine.

The toll dwarfs the measles deaths we tracked in Africa in August, when Somalia's 42 deaths on 730 confirmed cases stood out.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

measles, one of the most contagious viruses known, can kill young children, usually through pneumonia. Two doses of vaccine protect almost everyone, and when nearly all children are vaccinated the virus cannot spread. In Bangladesh, fewer children got their second dose after 2019, and the usual top-up campaigns stopped after early 2021. This year measles came back hard: more than 1,000 deaths, compared with none last year. The government vaccinated almost 20 million children from April. But babies cannot have the first dose until nine months old, and at one hospital most of the children WHO died were younger than 15 months.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

The gap built over four years. Routine first-dose coverage slipped from 88.6% in 2019 to 86% in 2023, and second-dose coverage fell further, to 80.7%. With no catch-up campaign since January 2021, each year's missed children added to the pool of people with no immunity.

Procurement stalled during the political upheaval of 2024 and 2025, according to Al Jazeera's reporting, so vaccine orders slipped just as the susceptible pool was largest.

The age pattern follows from the schedule. Of the suspected cases, 79% were in children under five, and the youngest infants fall in the gap before the nine-month dose.

What could happen next?

Risk
Deaths among infants under nine months are likely to continue until transmission among older children falls.
Short term · Assessed
Precedent
Bangladesh's outbreak shows that skipping one catch-up campaign cycle can undo years of high routine coverage.
Long term · Assessed
Consequence
Bangladesh may lower the age of the first dose or add an early infant dose, a step some countries take during outbreaks.
Short term · Suggested

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources from Qatar

Qatar

Primary parallel: Samoa's 2019 measles epidemic followed a collapse in routine coverage, and its deaths fell overwhelmingly on infants and young children. The government declared a state of emergency in November 2019 and ran a door-to-door mass campaign, which ended the outbreak within weeks.

Counter-parallel: the Americas kept measles out from 2002 by pairing routine two-dose coverage with follow-up campaigns every four to five years, catching each new birth cohort before gaps built up. PAHO certified the region measles-free in 2016, the model Bangladesh broke when its catch-up campaigns stopped after early 2021.

Mass campaigns are expensive compared with routine immunisation, because they need temporary staff, outreach sites and extra doses at short notice. Bangladesh's 2026 campaign of almost 20 million children is the bill for four years of missed routine rounds.

Hospital costs fall on families. measles complications such as pneumonia need inpatient care, and in Bangladesh much of that is paid out of pocket.

Consensus view: Halimur Rashid, director of disease control at Bangladesh's Directorate General of Health Services, told Al Jazeera that further vaccination rounds were due within two weeks. The official line holds that the April campaign, which beat its 18 million target, will bring cases down once immunity spreads through older children.

Counter-view: Mushtuq Hussain, a former principal scientific officer at the national Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, warned that 'you have to maintain equity'. The target itself underestimated the eligible population, which means pockets of unvaccinated children were never counted, so a headline coverage figure hides WHO was missed.

Key tension: Whether more rounds can protect infants under nine months, WHO cannot be vaccinated and depend entirely on the immunity of those around them.

Sources:ECDC·Al Jazeera·World Health Organization

Mentions:Bangladesh →measles →ECDC →World Health Organization →Al Jazeera →Somalia →PAHO →Directorate General of Health Services →Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research →Samoa →Americas →

First Reported In

Update #14 · River boat carries Ebola 1,000 km downriver

ECDC· 3 Oct 2026

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