Serua/Namosi Subdivisional Outbreak Response Team at the forefront of response to measles outbreak - Health Ministry

The Health Ministry says the Serua/Namosi Subdivisional Outbreak Response Team is at the forefront of the response to the measles outbreak since it was declared on the 7th of last month.

The Ministry says the team has been responding by rapidly isolating cases, quarantine and post-exposure vaccination for contacts or going door to door for mass vaccination of the at-risk communities.

It says the team has worked day and night and is sometimes trekking, camping, and crossing rivers on foot to reach people in some of the most remote communities.

Meanwhile, the batch of 200,000 measles vaccines has arrived in the country with the second phase of the immunisation campaign set to roll out from Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health has acknowledged the assistance provided by UNICEF and the Australian and New Zealand governments in securing the vaccines for Fiji.

The Ministry says that across Fiji, the immunisation campaign will target any child who has not received 2 doses of a measles vaccine, any child aged 12 and 18 months who is scheduled for their routine measles immunisation, any person in Fiji travelling overseas, all health care workers and all airport and hotel staff.

The Ministry of Health says that in the Central Division only, the campaign will also target all children aged 6 months to 5 years, all people born between 1980 to 2000 (19 years to 39 years) and all residents of Serua/Namosi aged 6 months and older. 

The Central Division is prioritized for this phase of the campaign as all confirmed cases to date are in this Division and the focus remains on containing the current outbreak.

It says the other Divisions will be targeted once more vaccine supplies arrive into the country.

Already close to 100,000 people around the country have been vaccinated in phase one of the immunisation campaign and this includes over 18,000 people in the outbreak area of Serua/Namosi.

The confirmed number of measles cases still stands at 14.

The Ministry adds that pregnant women, babies under the age of 6 months, those with a compromised immune system and those with a known allergy to the vaccine should not be vaccinated.