Failure to show up for appointments, lack of stocks impact vaccination rates in Romania

Almost 32% of children born in Romania in July 2015 have not been vaccinated because their parents haven't taken them to their due appointments, according to data from the National Public Health Institute (INSP) quoted by Gandul.ro. The data is part of the institute’s latest survey of 14,690 children, making up 85.7% of the newborns of July 2015. Although by the age of 12 months children needed to receive vaccines such as the BCG vaccine, the hepatitis B vaccine, the hexavalent vaccine and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, some 60% of them had missed their vaccines compared to their age, according to the same source. The hepatitis B vaccine was not available in 26.9% of the cases, the hexavalent vaccine in 37.3% of the cases, and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in 21.7% of the cases. Within the same of group of children, a refusal of vaccination was registered only in 3.8% of the cases. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was refused in 4.2% of the cases, the hepatitis B vaccine in 1.4%, and the hexavalent vaccine in 1.5% of the cases. Overall, most refusals were reported in urban areas (4.3%), with Bucharest and Covasna and Constata counties leading in the number of refusals. According to the INSP data, the national coverage rates per vaccine type were of 83.1% for the BCG vaccine, 74.4% for the hepatitis B vaccine, 49.6% for the hexavalent vaccine, and 76.2% for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The World Health Organization recommends coverage rates of 95% or more. A new law on vaccination is currently under debate in Romania. The country is also faced with a measles outbreak. Around 4,090 measles cases were confirmed in 38 counties, leading to 21 deaths. World Health Organization asks Romania and other countries to take action against measles outbreak editor@romania-insider.com