The northern province of Bac Ninh is busy with a large-scale vaccination campaign against measles and rubella, with nearly 280,000 children aged 1-14 expected to become immune, said a local health official.

The first official round of the campaign will be in September-October, targeting under-five children while those aged 6-10 will receive shots between November and December.

The last round will run throughout the next January -February, said Deputy Director of the provincial Preventive Medicine Centre Nguyen Khac Tu, adding that qualified medical staff and necessary equipment will be ready.

Earlier, Bac Ninh vaccinated almost all children under two years old, equivalent to more than 7,000.

For past years, the province has spread the expanded vaccination drive to over 98 percent of its junior population.

A number of localities in the country have been preparing for the vaccination against the diseases, including Ha Nam, Hai Phong, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

At a meeting of the Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention and Control in early July, the Ministry of Health said it plans a new measles-Rubella vaccination drive targeting children from 1-14 years old in September.

As many as 5,031 cases of measles were recorded in the country in the first half of this year.-VNA