Radio România Internațional

Tag: MMR

  • Measles and vaccination

    Measles and vaccination

    Romania continues to face a measles epidemic, said the health minister, Alexandru Rafila. He stated that there are several counties that are more affected and, in general, outbreaks occur where there are communities with a low degree of vaccination coverage. Measles, he went on to say, is reported throughout the European Union, but in Romania probably more than in other countries, and this situation can be seen on the maps of the European Center for Disease Control. Minister Rafila encourages parents to immunize their children, as vaccination can be done at the family doctor’s office. Measles is an infectious disease that is easily transmitted, especially in unvaccinated children, but sometimes the evolution gets serious, and complications can occur. According to the Health Ministry, vaccination coverage with the first dose at the national level is 78%, and 62% with the second dose.

     

    Doctors point out that many unvaccinated children end up being hospitalized with measles, and some of them develop serious complications, which can be avoided by getting the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine, which offers protection against three diseases. The vaccine is included in the National Vaccination Schedule and is administered free of charge. Although measles has been considered for a long time a childhood disease, specialists warn that adults can also get sick, and the evolution can be very severe, the patient needing hospitalization, as they can develop complications, the most dangerous being pneumonia and respiratory failure, as well as neurological disorders such as encephalitis.

     

    Physicians draw attention, at the same time, to the fact that the disease is transmitted extremely easily in the family, in communities, and that one can get contaminated while waiting to be consulted in the hospital units. Recently, minister Alexandru Rafila has underlined that vaccination programs greatly reduce morbidity and mortality, especially among children. He made this statement in the context in which fewer and fewer parents get their children vaccinated through the national program, as the specialists found out. As to adults, they are not better in terms of vaccination. Currently, measles vaccination coverage is only 60%. In this context, doctors believe that the target of education programs in Romania must be vaccination across the lifespan. According to a recent study by the World Health Organization, vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years, the equivalent of six lives every minute. According to the WHO, vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, helping to prevent diseases that were once feared.  (LS)

  • National Vaccination Report

    National Vaccination Report

    The measles epidemic in Romania has killed 30 people and infected as many as 8,000 people, prompting the World Health Organization to include Romania on a list of five countries that together account for 80% of the total number of measles infections reported worldwide.



    According to Government sources, over 220 thousand children have not yet been given the MMR vaccine. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has called on the Health Ministry to draft a detailed report on vaccination. The Prime Minister also proposed that the directors and deputies of Public Healthcare Agencies in five counties be removed from office due to the poor management of the anti-measles vaccination campaign.



    More precisely, the vaccination rate in these counties has fallen below 50%, while the nationwide target is 95%. According to the Prime Minister, parents who refused to inoculate their children, fearing the potential side-effects, have also fuelled the present crisis. Prime Minister Tudose argues that state institutions, including Child’s Protection, should have a say in this matter.



    Mihai Tudose: “From my point of view, any parent who refuses to vaccinate his children is endangering their lives. Can he truly decide which child gets polio or measles, who lives or who dies? Other parents have their parental rights terminated for less. When a parent virtually sentences his child to death, I don’t know whether it’s still a matter of parental rights”.



    According to the Health Ministry report, the measles epidemic has a high mortality rate of 4 fatalities in a thousand cases, double the figure postulated by health experts.



    The crisis was generated by a continuous drop in the vaccinate rate in the last ten years. And it was not just the parents’ refusal to vaccinate their children that triggered it, but also the shortage of anti-measles shots. Physician Sandra Alexiu, the vice-president of the National Society of Family Physicians, says that a high inoculation rate must rely on healthy vaccine supplies.



    Sandra Alexiu: “Right now MMR supplies are good, but we still lack tetravalent, BCG vaccines, vaccines for pregnant women or tetanus toxoid vaccines. It would be easier for us to carry out our vaccination activity if he had enough supplies. We are currently working out personalized vaccination schemes for children who missed their shots due in their vaccination timetable caused by the shortage of vaccines”.



    The Government is working on a draft law on vaccination, which they see as essential in the current context. Aimed at raising the awareness of authorities, doctors and parents alike with respect to the positive effects of vaccination, the law will be submitted to Parliament for debate.