The petition, submitted to a court in Dhaka on Monday by lawmaker Mujibur Rahman Iqbal, alleges that Yunus’ caretaker administration failed to procure measles vaccines and neglected a scheduled nationwide immunization campaign during its 18-month tenure, which ended following general elections in February.

According to the filing, the missed vaccination drive contributed to an outbreak officially recorded on March 15. Since then, 620 children have died with measles symptoms and more than 79,000 have been hospitalized, making it the country’s most severe outbreak in recent decades.

Advocate Rafiqul Islam, representing the petitioner, said the complaint accused the former administration of deliberately failing to fulfill its public health responsibilities despite repeated warnings from UNICEF about the risks of delaying immunization.

The case names Yunus, former health adviser Nur Jahan Begum and three other former officials as respondents.

The court dismissed the petition on the day it was filed, according to Islam, who said he was awaiting the written order before seeking a review of the decision.

The legal action follows a separate petition filed last month by a High Court lawyer seeking an investigation into the former government’s 18-month administration.

Health experts say the outbreak remains difficult to contain despite a vaccination campaign launched by the current government in April.

Dr. Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director of the disease control branch at Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Health Services, said approximately 1,000 children with measles symptoms are still being admitted to hospitals each day.

Ahmed said infection rates had not declined as expected after the launch of the vaccination campaign and called for a review of the government’s response to identify gaps in implementation.

Public health officials note that measles requires vaccination coverage of at least 95% to prevent transmission. The current campaign targets children aged six months to 59 months, a broader age group than the country’s routine immunization schedule, which administers measles-rubella vaccines at nine and 15 months.

Health experts say the change in vaccination strategy may have created confusion among parents, leaving some eligible children unvaccinated and allowing the virus to continue spreading.

Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, assumed leadership of Bangladesh’s caretaker government following student-led protests that removed the previous administration. His office has not publicly responded to the latest allegations.