FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
During this year, new cases of children affected by measles, a disease that is preventable through vaccination, have been recorded.
This also has to do with the fact that parents are increasingly refusing to have their children vaccinated against Measles-Rubella-Mumps.
Rovena Daja, epidemiologist at the IHP, clearly emphasizes that the link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been categorically rejected by science.
" Autism is not caused by the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and this is something that science says. Albania is a country that has a calm epidemiological situation of measles, but at the moment during 2025 we have caught sporadic cases of measles and if at certain moments an unvaccinated child comes into contact with measles, then he becomes infected and can even end up hospitalized and we have had cases in 2018 of four one-year-old children who have also lost their lives ," said Rovena Daja, epidemiologist at the IHP.
One of the most worrying situations this year was the one recorded in Fier, where due to neglect of vaccination, a kindergarten became a hotbed of infection.
" Meanwhile, we had children in a kindergarten in Fier who were unvaccinated children who, although they were one year old, had not been vaccinated by their parents and all the children were infected one after the other because they were unvaccinated. Normally, the kindergarten was closed, the children were then all vaccinated, and the situation calmed down due to the vaccination coverage ," she said.
Daja explains that the confusion over the link between the measles vaccine and autism is related to the fact that the vaccine is administered at the age of 1, when parents often begin to notice the first signs of autism in their child.
" The parent begins to understand that their child has something wrong at the age of one, in fact pediatricians catch it a little later, the first signs of autism are detected after 15 or 18 months. They understand that the child has something wrong and when they ask the parent what they connect it to, the parent immediately says that they connect it to vaccination ," said Rovena Daja, epidemiologist at the IHP.
Doctors appeal for children to be vaccinated on time, according to the national vaccination calendar, which includes 13 vaccines that protect against infectious diseases.
According to INSTAT, in 2024, vaccination coverage within the first year of life was at very high levels. 97–99%, for most vaccines. The exception remains the Measles-Rubella-Mumps vaccine, where coverage was 92%.
The IPH's goal for this year is to achieve over 95% coverage, in order to block the circulation of the virus and avoid further outbreaks.
Lini një Përgjigje