Samoa measles deaths: ‘Huge outbreak’ kills 39 amid anti-vax surge

35 of the 39 deaths are of children under the age of four

A New Zealand health official prepares a measles vaccination at a clinic. (AP)

A measles outbreak has killed 39 people in Samoa and the number of cases being recorded is rising due to the rise of anti-vaccine message, says the World Health Organisation.

The Samoan government confirmed a total of 2,936 measles have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team, with as many as 250 new cases being recorded in a single day.

The country declared a national measles epidemic in mid-October. 35 of the 39 deaths are of children under the age of four.

The WHO have blamed the decline in vaccination rates in Samoa for opening the door to the “huge outbreak”.

Between 2017 and 2018, the country’s national immunisation rate dropped drastically from 74 per cent to 34 per cent.

According to Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO’s immunisation department, just 31 per cent of children under five had been immunised in 2018.

The “low coverage of measles vaccine” has made the population vulnerable. She added: “When measles enters a country like that, there is a huge group of people who are not immune.”

The country’s immunisation programme was suspended temporarily in July 2018 following the deaths of two babies after they received their vaccines.

It was later found that the deaths were caused by medications that were wrongly administered, and two nurses were put on trial for manslaughter.

But many parents lost confidence in vaccinations after the incidents, leading to the decline in coverage.

Anti-vaccination messages have taken a toll on immunisation rates globally and are usually spread via social media.

The WHO said: “Vaccine misinformation is a major threat to global health that could reverse decades of progress made in tackling preventable diseases.”

Samoa’s health ministry launched a Mass Vaccination Campaign on 20 November and say nearly 45,000 individuals have been vaccinated since.

Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that can be spread through the air. Severe cases can lead to blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, eat infection, pneumonia, and eventually death.