European measles cases doubled in 2024 after vaccinaton levels fell post-COVID

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BERLIN (Reuters) -Measles cases in the European region doubled in 2024 to a more than 25-year-high, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF said on Thursday, as they urged action to restore vaccination levels that slumped after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children under five accounted for more than 40% of the 127,350 cases reported last year in the region, which comprises 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, the WHO said in a statement.

“Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call,” Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, said pandemic lockdowns had overwhelmed some health care systems but it was false vaccine narratives that had persistently undermined parents’ readiness to seek shots for their children.

“During the pandemic and in its aftermath, we saw a rise in the spread of misinformation which has led to an increase in hesitancy around vaccines,” said Fatima Cengic, UNICEF’s immunization specialist for the region.

“Following a backsliding in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, cases rose significantly again in 2023 and 2024. Vaccination rates in many countries are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels,” the WHO said.

Over recent months, the spotlight has been on cases of measles in the United States.

An outbreak in Texas and New Mexico, which caused the first U.S. measles deaths in a decade, this week expanded by 28 to 256 infections, posing a first major challenge for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine sceptic.

Also on Thursday, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters that the White House is withdrawing President Donald Trump’s nomination of vaccine critic Dave Weldon to serve as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the WHO, measles is one of the most contagious viruses for humans. Infections can cause complications including pneumonia, encephalitis and dehydration and also damage the immune system’s defensive memory against various pathogens.

The WHO said on Thursday that less than 80% of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania had their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023 – far below the 95% coverage rate required to prevent an outbreak.

Romania reported the highest number of cases in the European region in 2024, with 30,692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28,147 cases, it added.

(Reporting Ludwig Burger and Rachel More, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)