Stip doctors fear a new measles epidemic

There is no registered case of measles in Shtip, but the doctors are appealing for mass vaccination of children. Doctor Diana Koceva Milanova from the "Panche Karagjozov" Health Center says that parents are the most resistant to the vaccine for this disease, which only exposes children to infection in the event of the disease being transmitted from the outside.

- No, we do not have cases of registered measles patients, but the very fact that immunization coverage is low exposes unimmunized children to the risk of possibly getting the disease from abroad in case of an imported case, since it is a disease that spreads through direct contact contact also by air - says Koceva Milanova.

The scope of vaccination in Shtip, as he informs, is somewhat lower for the first dose received by twelve-month-old children, which is explained by the well-known fact that parents often postpone vaccination, i.e. wait for the child to walk or speak before receiving the vaccine. Kotseva-Milanova notes that usually parents take their children for vaccination after the second year, which, according to her, is unjustified.

- In order to achieve a solid collective immunity, we aim for a coverage of over 95 percent, but in reality that coverage is difficult to reach, so at the national level we aim for coverage to be at least over 90 percent. In the Municipality of Shtip, the coverage for the first dose vaccine, which is received at 12 months, is about 75 percent, already for the revaccination, which is at six years, the coverage is good, 93,7 percent. However, young children and older unvaccinated children are most at risk of getting measles, where the complications can be quite serious and even lead to death - adds Koceva Milanova.

The previous measles pandemic was declared nationwide in 2019. If you compare the percentage at that time, says Koceva Milanova, there is a real basis for concern.

- And the previous pandemic, when it happened in 2019, the coverage was about 80 percent. Now we are well below 80 percent, so the risk of a new measles epidemic is real - she said.

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