A total of 224,202 children aged between 9 months and 9 years old are behind with their vaccines, according to a report by the Romanian Health Ministry concerning the national vaccination program, quoted by News.ro.

Out of these, 30,706 are children aged 9 to 11 months, and 25,026 of them are registered with a family doctor. The remaining 5,680 are not.

In the 1 to 9 years old age category, 194,496 children are not vaccinated. Most of them, 155,727, are registered with a family doctor, while 37,769 are not.

Since the start of the measles epidemic in February 2016, Romania confirmed 8,246 such cases and 32 deaths by July 21, the report showed. The epidemics started at Roma populations in the Cluj and Bistrita counties, the report notes.

A total of 2,277 localities with a measles risk have been identified, according to the report. These are localities without a family doctor, where the vaccination rate is below 95% and with a Roma population.

The measles epidemics affected especially counties in the western part of the country, namely Caraş-Severin, Arad and Timiş. These are counties where a little over 50% of the eligible children received the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The measles mortality rate reported is of four cases per 1,000 children, way above the known one of 1-2 cases per 1,000 children, the report notes.

Among the causes of the measles epidemics, the report outlines the continuous drop in vaccination rates over the past decade, a situation worsened by the past two year’s increase in the number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. The frequent lack of vaccines in stocks was another cause.

Other weak points of the vaccination program as identified by the report are the lack of a budget for emergency situations, the lack of staff trained for such interventions, and the lack of emergency situations procedures. The absence of data concerning the children that should be vaccinated, of the people registered with a family doctor and a limited diagnosis capacity add to these.

The Health Ministry announced on July 26 that the executive and deputy directors of public health divisions in Caraş Severin, Hunedoara, Neamţ, Prahova and Ilfov counties will be released from their jobs, following an analysis on the implementation of the national vaccination campaign. The other directors of public health divisions in the country will receive written warnings.

Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said recently that parents who do not vaccinate their children are jeopardizing their children’s life. “Other parents lose their rights for less serious offenses. When a parent condemns their children to death, I don’t know if we can continue to talk about parental rights,” Tudose said, quoted by News.ro.

The new vaccination law is being discussed this Thursday, July 27, by the Government.

editor@romania-insider.com