Measles Epidemic Surges in Covasna County Despite Vaccination Efforts – Over 400 Cases Recorded in Children

The measles epidemic gained momentum this year in the county of Covasna, despite the vaccination recovery activities that the health authorities have been doing since last year. More than 400 cases of measles in children have been recorded since January, and in those months there were several outbreaks in Roma communities. Currently, another revolution has broken out in a border area in the city of the county seat, Radio Târdu Mureș broadcasts, taken over by Rador.

“So far, since the beginning of the year, we have investigated 413 cases of measles, six of which have been rejected. In fact, we started this epidemic in the county after January 1 and there were several outbreaks in the districts of Hetea, Doboșeni, Araci and now, right now, we have an outbreak in neighborhood evolution in Sf. There are more unvaccinated children there, children who are not registered with any family doctor…”, says the representative of the Department of Epidemiology DSP Covasna, Igyarto Gabriela.

Hundreds of children were recovered from vaccination last year in Covasna, but not in all cases. In the Roma community, Public Health Directorate teams were chased, threatened and harassed, in the presence of the police and local authorities. Soon after, measles broke out in the community, says Igyarto Gabriela:

“We still went (to avoid vaccination – no) to problem areas, but the truth is that we were not welcomed with open arms. For example, in Hetea we were bullied, no one came for vaccination, no one wanted to cooperate with us, although the local communities and the family doctor were also there. The police were also there… there were only (no) verbal threats… they did all kinds of things to us and said that we have nothing to do there, they are not cooperating with us. That’s all…”

The county of Covasna has a vaccination rate of 86% regarding the MMR vaccine for children aged 18 months, at the first dose, for the second dose at 5 years, the vaccination coverage is 85%.

Covasna County is in second place, nationally, after Brașov, in terms of the number of measles cases, which is almost 230 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants.

Brașov has an incidence of nearly 340 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants, and in third place is Mureș County, with about 220 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants.