In Samoa, the vaccine coverage was only about 31 per cent when measles took hold, according to the World Health Organisation. — Reuters pic
In just over two weeks, the official death toll has jumped more than 10-fold to 53 today, the Samoan government said. There are now more than 3,700 cases of measles recorded in the islands' deeply religious population of around 200,000. The vast majority of deaths were of children, with 48 out of the 53 aged four or under dying from the disease, according to a government update.
WHO warned in October of a devastating comeback in measles epidemics as the number of reported cases rose by 300 per cent in the first three months of this year.Pacific route "It's about being a good global citizen really, in that we all have to do our bit," said Petousis-Harris. The country's immunisation programme was also temporarily suspended. The deaths were later found to have been caused by medications that were wrongly mixed.