Romania Declares Nationwide Measles Epidemic
Romania's Ministry of Health has declared a nationwide measles epidemic as nearly 2,000 cases have been reported in 29 counties across the country, the ministry's press service reports.
"Given the alarming increase in measles cases, as well as the large number of hospitalisations in paediatric and infectious diseases departments of infected children, the Ministry of Health has declared a national measles epidemic to enable vaccination of children aged 9 to 11 months," the statement said.
The unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated will also be vaccinated.
The Ministry of Health, together with family doctors, will conduct an information campaign for parents to better implement the vaccination programme.
According to Health Minister Alexandru Rafila, parents refuse to vaccinate their children.
The Romanian Ministry of Health notes that vaccination coverage with the first dose at the national level is 78%, and the second dose - 62% of children eligible for vaccination, with a downward trend for more than 10 years.
Earlier, the World Health Organisation reported that the threat of measles is growing worldwide due to low vaccination rates. In particular, in 2022, after many years of declining measles vaccination coverage, the number of measles cases increased by 18% and the number of deaths from the infection increased by 43% compared to 2021.
The WHO notes that the threat of measles also continues to grow steadily for children. In 2022, large-scale outbreaks of the disease occurred in 37 countries, compared to 22 countries in 2021. 28 countries are located in Africa, 6 in the Eastern Mediterranean, two in Southeast Asia and one in Europe.
The organisation says that the increase in measles outbreaks and deaths is alarming but not unexpected due to the decline in vaccination rates seen in recent years.
Measles infection can be prevented with two doses of the vaccine.
In September, Ukraine's Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin said that there was also a very high probability of a measles outbreak in Ukraine this year. According to him, at least 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated year after year to prevent large outbreaks.
As a reminder, in 2018, the incidence of measles in Europe reached a 10-year high, which caused concern. At the same time, the alarm was raised in Europe about the spread of West Nile fever.