100 million children to be vaccinated for measles in China

Almost 100 million children will be vaccinated in China as part of a massive campaign to eradicate measles, running from September 11 through September 20, 2010. China accounts for 86% of all measles vaccinations in WHO’s Western Pacific region, and logged about 52,000 cases in 2009. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease, and while most people get over it fairly quickly, some suffer serious complications like blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, pneumonia and ear infections. It is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths among young children, and it caused 164,000 deaths worldwide in 2008.