About 2.4 million children in Europe may not have received full vaccination against polio between 2012 and 2021, maintaining the risk of reintroduction of the virus on the European continent.
The data from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) have been made public today, at the start of the European Vaccination Week, and are the result of an update on the polio situation in this period, which reveals that “approximately 2.4 million children in the EU/EEA [União Europeia e Espaço Económico Europeu] not having received all three doses of polio vaccine on time.
In addition, ECDC’s recently published Annual Measles Epidemiological Report 2022 also highlights the risks when there are pockets of an under-vaccinated population or unvaccinated groups.
“Although the European region was declared polio-free in 2002, the virus continues to be detected regularly in its wild form or as vaccine-derived strains in other regions. Due to adequate surveillance methods and generally high vaccination coverage, these events Fortunately, sporadic infections have not led to sustained transmission in the EU/EEA nor to the detection of human cases,” the ECDS said in a statement.
The director of the ECDC, Andrea Ammon, warns, quoted in the statement, that “as long as there are population groups that are not vaccinated or undervaccinated in European countries and polio is not eradicated worldwide, the risk of reintroduction of the virus in Europe is maintains”. “.
“In addition, in the case of measles, which is highly transmissible, the virus can spread in pockets of unprotected populations when vaccination coverage is suboptimal. This can lead to outbreaks that can create a burden on health systems, even in countries that have eliminated measles,” warns Andrea Ammon.
The EDCD highlights that despite the proven safety and efficacy of vaccines, European countries, as well as around the world, continue to experience outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases due to insufficient vaccination coverage rates.
“Regardless of the overall good performance of EU/EEA immunization programs during the COVID-19 pandemic and the tremendous efforts to make it happen, there are significant immunization gaps and disparities in immunization coverage between different countries and regions” , underline.
While the Measles Annual Epidemiological Report shows a 99% decrease in cases in 2022 compared to 2018, this was likely due to prevention and control measures implemented during the pandemic, with data showing that babies as young as one year old they continue to be the group with the highest incidence of measles, as they are too young to be vaccinated and therefore must be protected by community immunity.
ECDC says European Immunization Week is “a key moment” to raise awareness of the benefits and importance of vaccination, which requires “continued efforts” to identify immunity gaps in all people, especially in vulnerable populations. and difficult to access, such as refugees, migrants, asylum seekers.
“Accelerated efforts are needed to improve immunization campaigns and promote uptake and uptake of vaccines to achieve and maintain high immunization coverage against vaccine-preventable diseases,” he argues.
Source: TSF
