The recent decisions of American experts on varicella immunization in children in the US also raise question marks, where this vaccine is not even included in the national program.
Fewer children are immunized with the ROR vaccine in Romania. Photo shutterstock
In a post published on the page of the Virtual Children’s Hospital, pediatrician Mihai Craiu draws attention to the changes made by ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices), the group of experts that sets the vaccination policies in the US.
“Attention, there is news that can affect you emotionally … No, it is not a news news from a television journal and no article from a big print newspaper … It is a trivial news that has been almost unobserved in the landscape of medical communication”, Warns the pediatrician.
According to the decision of ACIP, adopted with 8 votes for and 3 against, the first dose of vaccine should be administered to children under 4 years by MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and separate vaccine against varicella, only children older than 4 years receiving the combined vaccine MMRV.
Given that globally the number of immunized children decreases considerably from year to year, doctors expect a decrease in vaccine coverage, due to the fact that parents will have to make more visits to the office and children will receive more injections.
“As every time there is a change that requires several coming to the cabinet, more consultations and more injections, the decrease of the vaccine coverage will be observed.
explains Mihai Craiu.
The situation in Romania
In Romania the situation is even more serious, given that the varicella vaccine is not even included in the national program. Therefore, he warns the doctor, there is a risk of recently described cases in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which a 44 -year -old healthy adult in the Netherlands, who, without having the disease or vaccine in childhood, has developed an extremely varicose form that required complex treatment.
An increasing number of parents in Romania refuses to vaccinate children within the national program, which has led to a constant decrease in vaccine coverage for the ROR serum (measles-red-Russian).
According to the data collected by the organization “Save the Children Romania” in February 2024, for children born in 2018, the vaccination rate at two doses of ROR is, on average, of 69.4% at national level (68.5% in the urban area and 70.6% in rural areas). However, the differences between the counties are very high: Giurgiu records the highest rate, of 97.5%, while the lowest values are in Neamț (44.9%), Hunedoara (48.6%), Caraș-Severin and Suceava (both by 53.3%).
The study takes into account two mandatory vaccines in the national immunization calendar and an optional one: ROR, the conjugated pneumococcal vaccine and the HPV vaccine.
“The analysis of the data regarding the vaccine coverage during the period 2020-2024 highlights a worrying tendency for the two mandatory vaccines, with significant implications for public health. The decrease of the vaccination rates had a significant epidemiological impact, most clearly highlighted by the appearance of the measles epidemic of December 2023. Three of Deaths caused by measles being recorded in those between 7 and 8 months old, who were not yet eligible for vaccination ”shows the organization “Save the Children”.
Also, family doctors draw attention to a constant decrease in ROR vaccination, especially to the administration of the second dose, at the age of five.
Why are adults more vulnerable
The Virtual Children’s Hospital draws attention to the attention that varicella is much more aggressive at maturity, explaining that “Adults often have a conflict with the Varicelo-Zosterian virus much more violent than children. And sometimes they can die.”
The risks also increase in patients passing through transplants or serious diseases. “As it happens, stupidly, with those who survive a serious cancer, do marrow transplant and leave home refusing to restore childhood vaccines. Because the marrow transplant completely deletes the immune memory. Yes, there are such tragedies in the world.” And in Romania. ” says the pediatrician.
“We will enter an era with even more hatred and extreme polarization of opinions. The sad news is that some people will die because of wrong decisions. And there will be significantly more dead in the camp that is … for” informed “decisions made by the fear of imaginary risks, ignoring the risk of the vulnerable ones.” It is the worrying message transmitted on the page of the Virtual Children’s Hospital.
