Social Monitor: Low vaccination coverage fuels alarming measles surge in Romania

Romania is facing a severe public health challenge as it reports 85% of all measles cases in the European Economic Area, according to data released by Monitorul Social, a project of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Romania. The alarming figures highlight the country’s struggle with low vaccination coverage amid a regional surge in infections.

Over the past year, from February 2024 to January 2025, measles cases across the European Union and the European Economic Area have risen sharply compared to the previous year, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports. The resurgence points to active virus circulation and the potential for further increases this spring.

Despite being highly preventable through two doses of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella), recent figures show that 80% of those infected across the EU/EEA were unvaccinated. While most European countries maintain vaccination rates above 90% for children aged one to two, Romania has seen a significant decline.

Once boasting a 98% immunization rate in the early 2000s, Romania now sees roughly one in four children unvaccinated, even after the government-led “Say NO to measles, say YES to vaccination” campaign, the same report said. Nationally, just 78% of children have received the first MMR dose, and only 62% are covered by the second, well below the levels needed for herd immunity.

In some counties, the situation is even more critical, according to the same source. Data from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) shows that vaccination rates in Arad stand at just 31%, followed by Satu Mare (40%), Suceava (44%), Neamț (46%), Alba (48%), Argeș (48%), and Vrancea (49%).

Between February 2024 and January 2025, Romania reported 27,568 measles cases. While the European average is 71 cases per million people, Romania’s rate is nearly 20 times higher, at 1,447 per million.

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