Special Articles Appropriate strategy for immunisation of children in India IV: Measles and its control, priority number one

Although a hidden health problem, measles is the commonest vaccine-preventable disease and the most common preventable cause of death among our underfives. These facts, plus the availability of a safe and effective vaccine make measles vaccinationthe ighe>t priority in the control of communicable disease in India. The use of the pulse vaccina-tion strategy will result in better coverage rates than the conventional stra-tegy of immunisation i fixed health centres. India's annual requirement of measles vaccine is 20 million doses. For economy and uninterrupted supply, measles vaccine must be manufactured in India without any further delay. Key words: Meas les ; meas les vaccine; immunisat ion strategy. In our review of the priorities of vac-cines in the Indian context, we suggested that the highest priority should be given to measles vaccine3 Although measles immunisation has been an integral com-ponent of routine childhood immunisation in most developed countries for nearly two decades, it is not yet part of our national programme of immunisation in that the vaccine is not procured and distributed by governmental agencies. An exper