Workers at Kansai airport get measles vaccination after outbreak last month

OSAKA — A measles vaccination drive began Thursday (Sept 9) for workers at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture after an outbreak there last month, the prefectural government said.

Subject to the shots at the airport are about 900 workers, including those in their 30s or younger who have yet to contract the disease and others who were never immunised against it.

About 300 of them will be immunised immediately during the first two days through Friday. The rest will be vaccinated as soon as the prefectural government secures the necessary doses.

A number of people below 40 were never vaccinated against measles in their childhood and therefore lack antibodies for the virus.

At the airport, the main international gateway to Osaka and other western Japan areas, a total of 33 employees mainly in their 20s and 30s have been confirmed infected since last month.

Infections among doctors and paramedics earlier this month raised concerns over the spread of the virus.

A senior official at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said last Friday that the virus is believed to have come from a traveller from abroad who passed through the airport, as measles has been eliminated from Japan. KYODO NEWS