Measles cases increased between February 2024 and January 2025 Europewide, with Romania being at the centre of the trend, reporting 85% of those registered in the region, according to the Social Monitor project of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Romania.
According to the organisation, between February 2024 and January 2025, Romania reported 27,568 cases of measles, making up 85% of the total cases reported in the European Economic Area. Compared with the European average of 71 cases per million inhabitants, Romania faces 1,447 cases of measles per million inhabitants.
According to recent data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, measles cases in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA) recorded a surge between February 2024 and January 2025, compared with the previous year.
Immunisation with two doses of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine remains the safest and most effective method of preventing this highly contagious disease. However, data shows that 80% of people diagnosed with measles in the EU/EEA in the last period were not vaccinated.
In most European countries, more than 90% of children aged one to two years are vaccinated against measles. In Romania, in the early 2000s, the immunisation rate had reached a record level of 98%, according to World Bank statistics. However, currently, after the government campaign "Say NO to measles, say YES to vaccination!", approximately one in four Romanian children is not vaccinated against this disease.
Vaccination coverage with the first dose of MMR in Romania is 78% nationwide, while for the second dose the coverage is 62%. This represents "a worrying situation", and in some counties, less than half of the children have been vaccinated, according to data with the National Institute of Public Health. Among the counties with the lowest vaccination rates are: Arad (31%), Satu Mare (40%), Suceava (44%), Neamt (46%), Alba (48%), Arges (48%) and Vrancea (49%).
Health officials emphasise the importance of vaccination as the main measure to prevent the spread of measles, urging parents to protect children's health through immunisation.
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