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The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, declared in Timisoara, on Thursday, that in the situation where there is no more vaccination coverage, other contagious infectious diseases, considered eradicated, may reappear, apart from measles, for which an epidemic has been officially declared in our country.
Minister Rafila emphasized that vaccines have become victims of their own success, as certain contagious diseases have been eradicated through vaccinations over the years, and now the population no longer considers that they must protect themselves against them through immunization.
"Vaccines are victims of their own success. Through vaccination, many of the diseases that I have heard of but have never seen - diphtheria, polio, of which I have only seen people with the sequelae of the infection. All these diseases that seem to have disappeared are at risk of re-emergence, of reappearance, because with the decrease in vaccination coverage there is also the possibility of the reappearance of these diseases. Sporadic cases still appear in various countries, especially from abroad, but we must not let our guard down, because any case that occurs in a country where the population is not vaccinated can lead to the spread of the disease. We do not want that. We have a war on the border, in Ukraine, where there are certainly problems with vaccination coverage and we have to make sure that children in Romania are protected," explained Alexandru Rafila.
The Minister of Health pointed out that in the case of the measles epidemic, the situation has remained unchanged in the two days since the outbreak was declared.
"The situation of transmission in many counties of the country of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) epidemic has arisen as a result of the reduction in vaccination coverage nationwide; only 78% for the first dose and 62% for the second dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. It is a consequence of the accumulation of a cohort of unvaccinated children who are not protected. This has happened in other countries, not just Romania. These public health measures, also recommended by the World Health Organization, are to reduce the consequences of an epidemic spread of measles, a disease that is to be eliminated as a public health problem at global level," said Minister Alexandru Rafila.
The Ministry of Health announced, on Tuesday evening, that it has declared a nationwide measles epidemic, in order to ensure the vaccination of children between the ages of 9 and 11 months, as well as to recover those who are not vaccinated or with an incomplete immunisation schedule, given the worrying increase of measles cases, as well as the large number of hospitalisations in the pediatric and infectious disease wards of infected children.
