Measles outbreak spreads to Australia, prompting renewed campaign to promote education and vaccination
- An estimated 93.5 per cent of two-year-olds in Australia have received two doses of measles vaccine
Australia on Monday launched a major education campaign to encourage its residents, particularly those travelling overseas, to get vaccinated against measles as a sudden spike in cases amid a global resurgence causes alarm.
Measles – an airborne infection causing fever, coughing and rashes that can be deadly in rare cases – was declared officially eliminated from Australia by the World Health Organisation in 2014.
In developed nations including Australia however, the growing anti-vaccine movement has seen a re-emergence of the disease.
The announcement by Health Minister Greg Hunt came as a spate of cases hit Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, with the latest infection alert on Sunday involving two people who holidayed in the Philippines.
