Four children died Friday after a measles outbreak was reported in Koz Kana, a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Shangla district, raising the death toll to 11 in the last four days, Dawn reported.

Locals fear the disease might be spreading to other parts of the district and that a lack of vaccines at the District Headquarters Hospital is making matters worse.

Dr Shafi ul Mulk, a health department official, confirmed that there is a shortage of measles vaccines.

"At least 800 children were vaccinated in a district-wide drive against measles in the last two days," he said, adding that the provincial health department has been notified of the shortage.

He further said his team is using all available resources to prevent the disease from spreading.

District council member Gul Mohammad told Dawn that he has informed senior district official and other relevant authorities about the outbreak, calling upon the provincial government to dispatch specialised medical assistance to the area at its earliest.

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