United States: The World Health Organization, together with UNICEF, reported on Thursday that European measles cases reached their highest point since 1997.
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They announced this discovery through their joint statement on Thursday.
WHO together with UNICEF conducted analysis which revealed that European region saw 127,352 reported measles cases during 2024 while this number stood at half during the previous year.
According to the World Health Organization, the measles virus mostly affected children below age five in the region, while half a million children failed to receive their initial measles vaccination in 2023.
According to Dr. Hans P. Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, “Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call. Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security,” CNN Health reported.
Measles cases globally reached their third-highest level in the European region during 2024, according to the reported statistics.
Measles and immunization
Furthermore, the rise in cases comes after a “backsliding in immunization coverage during the pandemic,” the official report stated.
Furthermore, experts warned that immunization rates in a number of countries have not returned to pre-COVID levels, increasing the risk of further outbreaks.
The report indicates that immunization coverage across most parts of the region failed to reach the herd yield threshold, which interfered with the necessary vaccine rate of 95 percent.
According to the report, most children aged 1 year in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Romania, received under 80% of the measles vaccine in 2023, CNN Health reported.
According to this report, vaccination represents the “best line of defense against the virus” and exposes that vaccinated individuals have at least a 97% probability of avoiding infection.