The measles and rubella combined (MR) vaccinations will commence from November 14 in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, said Mohsen Zahraei, head of the Health Ministry’s Center for Communicable Disease Control via Vaccination.
“The program will cover 1.1 million kids aged nine months to 15 years in the southwestern border province,” he said, ILNA reported.
Having a common border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the two diseases have gone viral, has prompted authorities to take immunization more seriously in the province.
In many countries, a measles vaccine and one for rubella are combined into an MR vaccine, or with a mumps vaccine into an MMR vaccine. Individual governments make decisions about which vaccines to use.
Noting that vaccination is one of the most effective medical interventions, Zahraei said 1,440 health teams will conduct the immunization project at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences.
