Measles vaccine safe for women, say officials from Oman's Ministry of Health

Muscat: There is no need to avoid pregnancy after you’ve been injected with the measles vaccine, said officials from the Ministry of Health (MoH).
The ministry has come forward to deny a rumour, which claimed that women needed to abstain from pregnancy for six months after taking the measles vaccine. The vaccine is being administered among all citizens aged 20 to 35 years as part of an ongoing Mumps-Measles-Rubella (MMR) vaccination drive.
“After taking the vaccine, you only have to wait for four weeks before pregnancy,” officials said. The ministry also confirmed that the MMR vaccine is safe for women in the time period immediately post-pregnancy, as well as for women who are breastfeeding.
Officials told people to check for credibility before circulating any information. Two million people in Oman, between the ages of 20 and 35, have been targeted under the immunisation plan. The jab is free for all citizens and residents, and available at government health centres and vaccination centres for Phase 1 locations Al Wusta and Dhofar.
According to the ministry, 52 per cent of the targeted age group in Al Wusta has already been vaccinated in the two days following the launch of Phase 1.
“In the first phase, which started in the Dhofar and Al Wusta regions from May 14, 15,000 people were vaccinated in Dhofar on day one,” said Dr. Fatma Al Yaqoobi from the Department of Communicable Diseases at MoH.
According to Al Yaqoobi, the urgent plan was introduced in response to the growing number of measles cases reported worldwide. “This was done in response to an increase in the outbreak of measles worldwide, for example in Europe and neighbouring countries,” she added. “It was based on the measles surveillance data, in addition to World Health Organisation (WHO) expert recommendations.”
She added that because of the upcoming Khareef (monsoon) season in Salalah, a lot of people from abroad are expected to come to Oman, which is why the plan was started well in advance, so as to prevent any outbreaks from happening in the country. The next phase, which includes the rest of the governorates, is proposed to be conducted after Ramadan, and its dates will be announced in due course.
MoH has been monitoring the prevalence of measles in the Sultanate, revealing that there were 114 confirmed cases in 2016. This year, 44 cases of measles were recorded by the end of April.