Photo: RNZ / Logan Church
Samoa's Ministry of Health is set to launch a campaign to boost the percentage of measles vaccination in the country.
It follows a confirmed case of the disease in New Zealand.
The person was infected overseas, however, they did not become infectious until after their arrival in New Zealand. The confirmed case is now isolating at home in Auckland and contact tracing is underway.
Director General of Health, Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma, told the Samoa Observer awareness programmes are ongoing, but the Ministry will be launching a campaign soon to increase the measles vaccine coverage.
The country has 82 percent coverage of the first dose of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine, and 45 percent coverage of the second dose.
Aiono added that one dose of the MMR vaccine is 93 percent effective, so there is a need to push coverage past 90 percent, and get the second dose up past 80 percent by June this year.
Aiono said when there is an increase in the number of cases or an epidemic is declared in New Zealand, Samoa can then officially give out alerts for awareness and protection.
The country suffered a devastating outbreak of measles in late 2019 with 83 people dying, most of them children.
The Samoa government was accused of ignoring mass vaccination advice from its own medical experts ahead of the epidemic.