10 confirmed cases of measles, latest case being a pregnant woman from Samabula

There are now 10 confirmed cases of measles with the latest confirmed case being of a 25-year-old pregnant woman from Samabula.

The Ministry of Health says the woman presented herself to the CWM Hospital on Thursday and is currently admitted under isolation.

It says the Suva Subdivisional Outbreak Response Team has responded to the notification of this new case through the tracing of contacts, with vaccination, and quarantine if needed.

The Ministry says the 2-year-old confirmed case mentioned in the previous update has since been discharged from the CWM Hospital.

It says the Serua/Namosi Subdivisional Outbreak Response Team has vaccinated 100% of the residents of Waibogi Village in Serua since notification of this case on Wednesday.

The Health Ministry further says an 11-year-old student of the Fiji School for the Blind is currently a suspected case and is isolated at the school awaiting test results.

The Ministry adds students and staff at the school were vaccinated and quarantined on Thursday before being cleared by the Suva outbreak response team.

The Ministry of Health has acknowledged the response of the public in presenting themselves to their health facilities for the measles vaccine.

The Ministry says as mentioned in the past, the measles vaccine is in limited supply and they say they would like to inform the public that there is an interim shortage of the measles vaccine.

They add, for this reason, the remaining measles vaccine stock will be prioritised to those who are at the greatest risk of catching and spreading measles and it is not available for the general public until additional stocks arrive in the coming days.

The Ministry says current stocks are being reserved for the following high-risk target groups the residents of Serua/Namosi, children from the ages of 6 months to 3 years and people travelling overseas, however proof of travel must be shown i.e. ticket/travel itinerary, not just a passport.

It says the routine immunisation of children at 12 and 18 months of age will continue as per the national immunisation schedule.

The Ministry adds the only exceptions to those in the above groups are pregnant women, those with compromised immune systems, and those with a known allergy to the vaccine. These people should not be vaccinated.