Objective: Assess the status of vaccination against measles among children registered in EPI program at PHCC in Tathleeth area duringperiod 2000-2005. Methodology: A cross-sectional study for current outbreak A retrospective cohort study for children registered in PHCC for EPI vaccination during period 2000-2005 was conducted to evaluate the role of timing of vaccination in occurrence of measles cases. Results: Among the whole 132 cases 57.6% did not receive any vaccine. 13.6 % received partial vaccination. 28.8% were completely vaccinated. Among 5447 studied children, 12.8% of them were not vaccinated at all. 33.1%were completely vaccinated and 54.1 % were partially vaccinated. Delay in MMR1 vaccination was defined as any child who did not receive his/her MMR1 or received MMR1 at or after 13th month of his birth. 50.7 % had delayed MMR1 vaccination. When delay in vaccination was assessed keeping in view the current age of children. It was observed that among age 19-42 months 82.5% have received MMR1 before 13 months indicating that they were on schedule for the EPI. Among the children 67-92 months of age only 9.1% received MMR2, thus were on schedule, while 90.9% were not on schedule according to EPI. Conclusion: This is the first measles outbreak (132 cases) in Tathleeth region and the most probably risk factors are reduced herd immunity and low vaccine coverage.
