This Is Not Measles. This Is a Procession of Child Deaths Born of State Negligence

The ongoing measles epidemic in Bangladesh is not a normal outbreak of disease. It is the heart-breaking picture of thousands of children dying from a preventable illness because of a crisis born out of political vengeance. The vaccination system that Bangladesh built over decades to protect the lives of its children has collapsed. It collapsed because of the political revenge, administrative incompetence and irresponsible policy decisions of the illegal interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, and the current BNP government formed through a staged election. As a result, innocent children are dying every day in Bangladesh.

Measles is a disease that can be easily prevented through regular vaccination. Bangladesh was once a global role model in controlling this disease. Yet today, in that same Bangladesh, more than one thousand children have died. According to official figures, as of 12 September 2026, the number of child deaths from measles has reached 1,012. Various sources indicate that the real number is likely to be even higher. So far, the total number of infections stands at 189,789, while 149,471 children have been admitted to hospitals. These government figures alone reveal the horrifying scale of the ongoing measles epidemic.

Reuters reported on 9 September 2026 that Bangladesh is now facing the world's worst measles outbreak, with nearly one thousand suspected and confirmed deaths recorded since March. These figures are not just numbers. Behind every number, there is a child. Behind every child, there is a family. Behind every death, there is the cry of a helpless mother.

What hurts me most is that these deaths were preventable. With sincerity and timely action, they could have been stopped. Many of these children could have lived. We had the necessary skill and experience. We had a clear vaccination structure. We had trained health workers at the field level. We had a long-standing partnership with UNICEF, GAVI and WHO to ensure uninterrupted vaccine supply. Yet all of this was destroyed, and innocent children were pushed towards death. This cannot be dismissed as an unintended failure. It is more accurate to call it a planned killing.

Causes of the Measles Epidemic in Bangladesh. WHO has stated that nationwide MR vaccine stockout, routine immunisation gaps and the absence of regular supplementary measles-rubella campaigns increased the number of children at risk. In other words, this outbreak did not happen because of the virus alone. It happened because the prevention system collapsed.

The stages of this collapse were: the continuity of routine vaccination was broken; supplementary campaigns were not conducted on time; the tested UNICEF-GAVI procurement system was cancelled, putting vaccine availability at risk; MR vaccine stockout was allowed to happen; surveillance and real-time tracking were not ensured; and Vitamin A, nutrition support, hospital preparedness, isolation and paediatric care were not ensured.

Measles is a highly contagious disease. It spreads very quickly. When population herd immunity becomes weak, children suffer first. The youngest children, those who have not yet reached the age for the first dose, those suffering from malnutrition, those living in slums, Rohingya camps or densely populated areas, face the greatest danger.

If a child dies before reaching the age of vaccination, who is responsible? That child could not take the vaccine by himself or herself. Society's collective immunity was supposed to protect that child. When that protective wall collapses, the most helpless children are the first to lose their lives.

Success of the Vaccination Programme During the Awami League Government. Bangladesh's Expanded Programme on Immunization, or EPI, is one of the country's greatest public health achievements. From full vaccination coverage of only about 2% of children in 1979, Bangladesh achieved internationally recognised success in routine immunisation within a few decades.

During the Awami League government, the vaccination programme was not just an administrative duty of the Ministry of Health. It was a state priority. Our goal was clear: no child in Bangladesh should be left without vaccines.

From 2009 to 2024, we expanded the MR vaccine programme and built a strong measles prevention system. In 2012, the first dose of the MR vaccine for children was introduced, followed by the second dose at 15 months of age. Since then, in coordination with UNICEF and GAVI, we ensured regular vaccine availability, maintained routine immunisation and conducted large scale vaccination campaigns across the country. In the special vaccination campaign held in 2014, around 52 million children received the measles-rubella vaccine.

In 2022, Bangladesh reported 311 measles cases. In 2023, the number was 281. In 2024, it came down to 247. This means the disease was fully under our control. If everything had continued properly, we would have declared Bangladesh measles-free in 2027.

In 2019, GAVI honoured me with the Vaccine Hero Award. The award recognised my national and international leadership and advocacy for immunisation. It was also an international recognition of Bangladesh's public health management. The Awami League's vaccination strategy was clear: Coverage, Continuity, Campaign, Control.

Failure and Responsibility of the Yunus Led Interim Government. When the Yunus led interim government seized power in August 2024, it inherited a strong vaccination system. According to WHO and UNICEF data, Bangladesh then had around 97% coverage for the first dose of measles vaccine and around 93% coverage for the second dose. In 2023, confirmed measles cases were only 281. This was an internationally praised EPI system. But the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus broke that continuity.

The supplementary MR campaign that was supposed to take place from the middle to the end of 2024 was suspended. The Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme, or HPNSP, which had been operating since 1998 as the institutional foundation for vaccine procurement and the health sector, was effectively cancelled without any alternative. As a result, the institutional structure of vaccine supply collapsed.

The biggest mistake was moving away from the tested vaccine procurement system through UNICEF, which had been in place for decades, and shifting towards an open tender process. UNICEF warned the government several times about this. UNICEF Bangladesh Country Director Rana Flowers formally wrote to the interim government and warned that this decision could lead to a "severe shortage of vaccines" and an "almost guaranteed risk of childhood illness and death." Still, Muhammad Yunus ignored that warning.

As a result, the government failed to procure new vaccines. In the words of an EPI official, not a single vaccine could be obtained through any method. In March 2026, the national stock of six types of vaccines, including measles-rubella, ran out. According to reports, MR coverage fell to 59%, a devastating decline from the 97% coverage recorded eighteen months earlier. Later, this information was also removed from the government website. In other words, under Yunus, the vaccination programme became: Disruption, Stockout, Immunity Gap, Death.

Muhammad Yunus came to the country and spoke about pressing the "reset button." But a state is not a toy that becomes new again by pressing reset. A country's health system, vaccination system, procurement chain, international partnerships and trained field workers are built through years of continuous planning and implementation. When these systems are destroyed, ordinary people pay the price. Today, the children of Bangladesh are paying that price.

The Yunus government inherited an effective EPI structure. It inherited high vaccination coverage. It inherited established relationships with UNICEF, GAVI and WHO. It inherited the experience of trained health workers at the field level. It inherited the budget allocation I had left for vaccine procurement. But it failed to protect that continuity. It did not listen to UNICEF's warning. It did not understand the risk in time. It did not act when action was needed. The result is today's measles epidemic.

When a government receives repeated warnings but still refuses to act, when it creates complications in vaccine procurement, when it fails to correct the situation quickly despite knowing that children are at risk, it cannot be called only an administrative mistake. It is a policy failure. And when more than one thousand lives are lost because of that failure, it no longer remains a mere failure. It becomes an unforgivable crime.

Responsibility of the Current BNP Led Government. The failure of the Yunus government created the foundation of this epidemic. But the current government led by Tarique Rahman cannot avoid responsibility either. From the moment it came to power, the crisis was already becoming clear. Its duty was to urgently ensure vaccine supply, identify children at risk, conduct case tracing, prepare hospitals to treat infected children, and keep the public regularly informed.

But what did we see? Instead of responsibility, we saw the politics of blame. The health minister stood in parliament and gave false information, blaming Awami League. But the reality is that the last major MR campaign took place from December 2020 to January 2021. If the campaign is held every four years, the next campaign was due from the end of 2024 to the beginning of 2025. That means it was due during the Yunus government. The Yunus government did not conduct it. Instead, it also disrupted the normal vaccination programme.

In a democratic and transparent system, politics should be based on data. Lying about children's deaths or shifting blame is inhuman politics. The current government should have searched for the truth instead of looking for political gain. It should have asked why coverage fell, why stockout happened, why the campaign did not take place, and why hospitals were not ready. It should have acted according to those answers. It has failed completely to do so.

Success of the Awami League Government in Covid Vaccination. No one can say Bangladesh cannot do it. During Covid, the Awami League government proved that even when a crisis is severe, Bangladesh can respond with great success if there is proper leadership, planning, international cooperation and field level management.

During Covid, we acted quickly through vaccine diplomacy and coordinated with COVAX to ensure vaccine availability in the shortest possible time. Through COVAX, Bangladesh received more than 190 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, making Bangladesh one of the largest recipients of COVAX. Through a digital registration system, we delivered Covid vaccines to every corner of the country. UNICEF said Bangladesh's COVID-19 vaccination rate was enviable.

This experience proves that when the state wants to act, it can act. Therefore, calling today's measles epidemic "inevitable" is false. It could have been prevented. We knew how to prevent it. The problem was leadership. Because of their failure, Bangladesh today is witnessing a procession of child deaths.

The Health Philosophy of the Awami League Government. The politics of Awami League is the politics of improving people's lives. The goal of my government was to make life easier for the people. We did not only build large bridges, power plants, metro rail and economic zones. We also built community clinics, expanded maternal and child healthcare, provided free medicines, expanded social safety nets, and strengthened the vaccination programme.

Because I believe development is not only GDP growth. Development means a child receiving vaccines. Development means a patient receiving treatment at a hospital. Development means a villager going to a community clinic and receiving free medicine. Development means protecting a child from a preventable disease. We declared zero tolerance against terrorism. We also maintained zero tolerance in disease prevention. We treated children's health as a responsibility of the state. That is why we succeeded in preventing measles. That is why Bangladesh received international recognition.

What Must Be Done Now. The most urgent task now is to acknowledge the truth. The politics of blame must stop. Saving children's lives must be given the highest priority.

The following steps must be taken immediately: ensure uninterrupted vaccine supply through UNICEF, GAVI and WHO; conduct national mapping of zero-dose and under-vaccinated children; launch special campaigns in slums, poor areas, border regions, Rohingya camps, densely populated areas and hard-to-reach regions; introduce a real-time surveillance dashboard in every district; increase measles wards, isolation facilities, oxygen supply, ICU capacity and paediatric support in hospitals; ensure Vitamin A, nutrition support, and proper management of pneumonia and diarrhoea; conduct an independent investigation into the 2024-25 vaccine procurement failure, campaign delay, vaccine stockout and data discrepancy; explain to the people why UNICEF's warning was ignored; and provide state recognition, assistance and compensation to the family of every child who died.

Final Words. I want to say clearly: no one has the right to play politics with children's lives. The death of more than one thousand children from a preventable disease is not an ordinary failure. It is a warning to the state. Those who created the path to this preventable disaster must be held accountable. They must be brought before justice.

The people of Bangladesh know that the Awami League government treated public health as a right of the people. We vaccinated children. We built community clinics. We protected mothers. We fought to save lives during Covid. But those who seized power after 5 August 2024 are giving false explanations instead of accepting responsibility for their failure.

Bangladesh once showed the world the way in child vaccination. Bangladesh can do it again. But for that, we need a humane government, an efficient administration, science-based decisions, and genuine accountability towards people's lives. The state must be brought back to the service of the people. Saving children's lives is now the greatest responsibility.