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
Associated With
Source MECACAR, Wikipedia
Delivers Practice
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.
Lead section
launched in 1995
Program classification, entity description sentence
Operation MECACAR (currently known as MECACAR New Millennium) is a multi-national immunization program launched in 1995 by the World Health Organization to coordinate polio vaccination efforts (currently it is also used to coordinated measles and rubella vaccination efforts). The name of the operation was derived from the names of the regions participating in the operation: Eastern Mediterranean, Caucasus, Central Asian Republics and Russia.
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