In problem areas, we were booed, no one came for vaccination, they did all kinds of things to us

The measles epidemic gained momentum this year in Covasna county, despite the vaccination recovery actions that the health authorities have been carrying out since last year. More than 400 cases of measles in children have been registered since January, during these months there were several outbreaks in Roma communities. Currently, another outbreak has broken out in a border neighborhood of the county seat municipality, Radio Târdu Mureș broadcasts, taken over by Rador.

“So far, since the beginning of the year, we have investigated 413 cases of measles, six of which have been refuted. We, in fact, started this epidemic in the county after January 1 and had several outbreaks in the localities of Hetea, Doboșeni, Araci and now, at the moment, we have an outbreak in the evolution of a neighborhood in Sf. Gheorghe. There are more unvaccinated children there, children who are not registered with any family doctor…”, states the representative of the Department of Epidemiology of DSP Covasna, Igyarto Gabriela.

Hundreds of children were recovered from last year’s vaccination in Covasna, but not in all cases. In a Roma community, the Public Health Directorate teams were chased away, threatened and booed, in the presence of the police and local authorities. Shortly after, an outbreak of measles broke out in the community, says Igyarto Gabriela:

“We still went (for vaccine recovery-no) to problem areas, but the truth is that we were not welcomed with open arms. For example, in Hetea we were booed, no one came for vaccination, no one wanted to collaborate with us, although the local communities and the family doctor were also there. There was also the police… there were only (no) verbal threats… they did us all kinds of things and said that we have nothing to do there, that they don’t cooperate with us. That’s it…”

Covasna county has a vaccination rate of 86% with regard to the MMR vaccine for children aged 18 months, at the first dose, for the second dose at 5 years, the vaccination coverage being 85%.

Covasna County is in second place, nationally, after Brașov, in terms of the incidence of measles cases, which is almost 230 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants.

Brașov has an incidence of almost 340 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants, and in third place is Mureș County, with about 220 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants.