Warned interim govt several times over measles vaccine shortage: Unicef
Unicef Bangladesh today said it had warned the interim government -- both in writing and during meetings with health ministry officials -- several times about the shortage of measles vaccines that could lead to an outbreak.
The UN agency sent five to six letters to the health authorities on the matter and discussed the issue in 10 meetings during the interim government’s tenure, Rana Flowers, Unicef representative to Bangladesh, told reporters at a press briefing at its Dhaka office.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. “From 2024, we were warning the government that the shortage of vaccines could lead to an outbreak,” said Flowers, who joined Unicef Dhaka Office on August 5, 2024.
“From 2024 across 2025 into 2026, we sent letters and we had 10 different meetings signalling this was a problem and that order for vaccines needed to be given. They could not,” she said.
Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director of Unicef who visited Bangladesh in August last year, raised the vaccine shortage issue at a meeting with the foreign affairs ministry, she also said.
Flowers said, “The failure to order vaccines was not the result of no money in the Ministry of Health. The funding was provided by the Ministry of Finance. The funding was in the budget… It was the decision around how to procure that had created a delay. And that will be the subject of an investigation, which I welcome.”
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