Vaccine

The Ministry of Health organised a working seminar on Thursday, attended by Romanian and foreign specialists, patients, family doctors, to prepare an action plan to inform and educate the population regarding the vaccine against HPV, but also about vaccination in general, shows a press release sent AGERPRES.

The vaccination rate of children in Turkey increased to 98 percent in 2019 with an annual increase of 2 percent, the country's health minister has said, vowing to increase the figure even further with locally-produced vaccines.

At least 73 people, mostly children, have died in Samoa so far due to a measles epidemic since last month, the DPA said, citing the Pacific government.

According to the latest data from the Samoan Ministry of Health Monday morning, 5267 measles cases have been reported since the outbreak of the epidemic.

Health experts' warnings over the dangers associated with the flu virus this winter appear to have bolstered demand among the Greek population this year, figures show. About 2,350,000 vaccines have already been distributed across the country and an extra 500,000 doses are on their way to help meet the unprecedented demand for shots. [EPA]

The German Bundestag has approved a law that will make measles vaccination mandatory in kindergartens and schools from March 1, 2020, DPA reported.

Education Minister Aeber Ademi said on Tuesday that at least 200 children are not being allowed to attend school because they are not vaccinated, but added that these are only the preliminary numbers that the ministry gathered from education inspectorates across the country, and that the real figure might be higher.

Free influenza vaccines for people over 65 will be available in the second half of October. This was announced by the state health inspector Dr. Angel Kunchev in the studio of BNT's Morning Block. Four strains of the virus will attack us this winter. Our country is one of the last places in Europe in the number of vaccines purchased.

How to Protect Against Autumn Viruses, and Is Vaccine Recommended as a Measure for This - The topic in the BNT Morning Block was commented by Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev, Chief State Health Inspector.

There is practically no activity of the viruses at the moment, Kunchev explained. According to him, the best time for immunization is from October to the end of the year.

Fears provoked by the anti-vaccination movement may appear exaggerated if we consider that, worldwide, the vast majority of people believe that vaccines are safe and effective (79 percent and 84 percent, respectively, according to the World Health Organization). Yet a small number of unvaccinated people is enough to threaten the immunity of the population.

Worldwide, measles cases are increasing, a disease that has a vaccine but can be deadly or cause serious harm to children, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The reported cases of the disease have jumped nearly three times in the last one year.

Their total number for 2019 is 365,000, the highest since 2006, but experts suspect millions are actually infected.