Operation MECACAR, now called MECACAR New Millennium, is a multinational immunization initiative established by the World Health Organization in 1995 to coordinate vaccination campaigns against polio and, more recently, measles and rubella across the Eastern Mediterranean, Caucasus and Central Asian regions and Russia, the regions its name is drawn from. Eighteen countries currently participate, and the program has vaccinated more than 60 million children through synchronized National Immunization Days held on the same dates in bordering member countries, alongside coordinated laboratory surveillance. After Europe was declared polio-free in 2002, the program's objectives shifted to maintaining polio-free status in the region while working toward measles and rubella elimination.
Facts
Program Statusshifted after 2002 to maintaining polio-free status in the region and pursuing measles and rubella elimination 1 Health Goalmaximize the geographic area covered and the number of children targeted simultaneously for mass vaccination with oral polio vaccine 1 Program status (class) Classification
Program KindVaccination or Immunization Program 1 Connections
Delivers Practice
Entity-backed identity for the program-kind enum value this public health program already carries, resolved to a health practice by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The program-kind fact itself stays on the program unchanged.
Sources
1. MECACAR, Wikipedia
Concept section
maximize the geographic area covered and the number of children targeted simultaneously for mass vaccination with OPV.
History section
After Europe was declared polio-free in 2002, MECACAR's objectives became maintaining polio-free status in the region and also achieve measles and rubella elimination.
- Wikipedia 'MECACAR': 'Currently, 18 countries are participating and more than 60 million children have been vaccinated'; checked 2026-09-27.
Program classification, entity description sentence
Operation MECACAR, now called MECACAR New Millennium, is a multinational immunization initiative established by the World Health Organization in 1995 to coordinate vaccination campaigns against polio and, more recently, measles and rubella across the Eastern Mediterranean, Caucasus and Central Asian regions and Russia, the regions its name is drawn from.
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