In spring 2008, eight million Ukrainians will get a surprise from their doctors: young people between the ages of 15 and 29 will receive a booster vaccine for measles and German measles. This initiative of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health has the support of the World Health Organization (WHO). The reason behind the booster program is that a new measles epidemic outbreak is expected in Ukraine. Doctors say that the only way to avoid the disease is a timely vaccination, and since flu vaccinations are done in winter, the anti-measles campaign will take place in spring.
According to Ukraine’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr. Liudmyla Mukharska, the latest outbreak of measles in Ukraine occurred in 2004-05. During that period 46,000 people came down with the disease, 90 percent of them adults. Grownups experience severer symptoms than children. “Adults who get measles can develop complications, like pneumonia, otitis, or meningitis. This dangerous disease sometimes kills. However, the greatest danger of measles is that it is highly infectious. You can become infected just by enter a room of a person who has measles,” says Dr. Mukharska.
The cause of the most recent measles outbreak is Ukrainians’ weak immunity. The last vaccination program was conducted 20 or 30 years ago (vaccination programs were conducted regularly in 1968 and 1988). This means that 50 percent of Ukrainians today have an unknown vaccination status. Many individuals do not remember whether they were ever vaccinated against measles. Fourteen percent of adults do not have a sufficient amount of antibodies that protect them from the measles agent.
According to Ukraine’s deputy chief medical officer, doctors were somewhat disconcerted by the fact that only 146 cases of measles were recorded in 2004. These statistics led them to believe that the circulation of the causative agent had been liquidated in Ukraine. “However these data were not correct. If booster vaccinations are not carried out soon, an even greater outbreak of measles may occur,” says Dr. Mukharska. “Although such vaccinations are not compulsory in Ukraine, people should not avoid them. If parents refuse to vaccinate their children, they will not be permitted to attend educational establishments without being vaccinated. This concerns only those children and adults for whom such vaccinations are contraindicated, 2 percent of Ukraine’s population.”
Experts say that certain complications may occur after vaccination, for example, reddening of the skin, fever, or swelling. Such complications may appear for several reasons: incorrect vaccination, the vaccine was stored in inappropriate conditions, or the individual peculiarities of each person’s organism. But complications are merely proof that the vaccine is working.
Instead of the traditional trivalent vaccine (for measles, German measles, and parotitis) a divalent vaccine (only for the first two diseases) will be used in the spring campaign. Ukraine will receive it from UNICEF as humanitarian aid. Dr. Stanley Plotkin of the WHO says that the divalent vaccine is safe and highly effective, and has helped millions of people in North America, Asia, and Europe. But many countries have not had to use it because they have been conducting timely and planned vaccination programs instead of booster vaccinations.
