The measles and rubella vaccine will be the twelfth vaccine provided through the national immunisation program, according to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).

The institute under the Ministry of Health said on March 26 that children 18 months of age will be the target beneficiaries with around 1.7 million children receiving vaccinations against measles and rubella.

The NIHE said the nationwide measles-rubella vaccination campaign for children from one to 14 years of age is a preventive move to shield them from measles and rubella outbreaks.

The campaign, which began in mid-September, 2014, is the biggest of its kind and has thus far provided injections to 19 million children or 95.7 percent of the total population demographic.

These efforts have contributed to reducing the number of measles and rubella cases to only 36 from the outset of 2015, the institute said, adding that the total number of incidences in 2014 was 2,036.

The institute said that in 2014, it provided vaccines to 1.7 million children less than one year old across the nation, reaching 97.1 percent.

Last year, they gave 1.3 million Japanese encephalitis vaccines to children.-VNA