AKIPRESS.COM - The Samoa measles outbreak has not slowed down, prompting the government to extend a state of emergency on Saturday to December 29. Over 5,100 measles cases have been reported since the outbreak, with 74 recorded in a recent 24-hour period alone, according to Samoa's government. 

More than two percent of the island nation's population has been infected, and 72 measles-related deaths have been recorded. Most of those who have died have been under five-years-old, according to the United Nations.

The highly infectious disease is preventable through vaccination, but only 31 percent of Samoans were vaccinated when the outbreak was officially declared in October, according to Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Samoan authorities declared a state of emergency in November.

The low vaccination rate this year was caused in part by a distrust of vaccinations that spread last year when two infants died after nurses incorrectly mixed their vaccines with another medicine. The accident compounded the worldwide spread of misinformation about vaccines.