This report is of particular relevance to us, as the ongoing measles outbreak in Limerick region in 2018 has been linked to importation, and the outbreaks reported in the East and North east in 2017 (source not identified), spread rapidly amongst non-incompletely vaccinated children and adults- similar to the picture being seen in Europe.
Content:
- Measles cases in the EU/EEA are principally occurring in unvaccinated populations, both adults and children. Large outbreaks with fatalities are ongoing in countries that had eliminated or interrupted endemic transmission.
- Vaccination coverage and the distribution of outbreaks both show strong spatial heterogeneity across and within countries. Even if a country has an overall coverage of 95%, there is still the potential for outbreaks in subnational zones or communities with low coverage (i.e. they may be delimited either geographically or sociodemographically).
- The high proportion of cases with unknown vaccination status among young adults (13% among 25-29 years old), highlights the importance of registration tools, in particular electronic registers to document the vaccination status of individuals. Such registers have the important potential of providing timely vaccination coverage data even at subnational level, something lacking in a number of Member States.
- Some countries have seen an increasing proportion of cases among adults, prompting the need to consider catch-up campaigns. Member states are encouraged to identify existing immunity gaps in specific population groups to facilitate supplementary immunization activities (SIAs).
- Lastly, the frequent occurrence of measles among healthcare workers in several EU/EEA countries is a reason of concern and Member States may consider specific interventions in this regard. Ensuring that all healthcare
workers are immune to measles, with proof/documentation of immunity or immunization, should be considered as a condition of enrolment into training and employment. Given the current extent of measles circulation in the EU/EEA, the trend in recent years, and that vaccination coverage for the first and second dose is suboptimal, there is a high risk of continued measles transmission with mutual exportation and importation between EU/EEA Member States and third countries.
Please click here for the full report.