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The Commonwealth of Australia, in conjunction with all State and Territory governments, conducted the Measles Control Campaign (MCC) between August and November 1998. The Campaign aimed to increase measles vaccination coverage and was the first stage of a longer term strategy to eliminate measles from Australia. It consisted of national media, education and vaccination programs and included the following four components:

• moving the second dose of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) from 10-16 years of age to 4-5 years of age;
• school based delivery of a catch-up dose of MMR for primary school aged children;
• reminder letters to parents of pre-school aged children due or overdue for the first dose of MMR; and
• a letter to all parents of high school children advising them of the change to the routine MMR schedule, the importance of the second dose and asking them to ensure that their child had received two doses of the MMR vaccine.

The Campaign was very successful, with around 1.7 million, or 96 per cent, of primary school aged children being vaccinated during the Campaign. More than 1.3 million of these children were vaccinated in the school program in almost 8,800 schools in all States and Territories. A serosurvey conducted after the Campaign showed that 94% of children aged 6-12 years were immune to measles, an increase from 84% before the Campaign. The Australian Measles Control Campaign 1998 Evaluation Report can be obtained from the Immunise Australia Internet website at http://immunise.health.gov.au.


This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 24, No 3, 16 March 2000.