Measles is a vaccine-preventable infection, its spread is very well blocked by vaccination.
Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN
The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel, said that over 1,000 measles cases are now registered in Russia, about 300,000 people have come into contact with them (which means that they can potentially get sick – ed.). Of this number, the number of those who do not have measles immunity is, fortunately, much lower, about 7-6 thousand.
Some 500,000 people have been vaccinated against measles to date. The work continues and over the next month it is necessary to vaccinate a significant part of people who do not have immunity to this dangerous infection, these are mainly teenagers and adults. However, it is already possible to say that measles outbreaks in Russia are localizedsaid Anna Popova.
Measles vaccination coverage of children in the Russian Federation is 97%, the head of Rospotrebnadzor noted. There are also refuseniks, those who do not want to be vaccinated, but their “proportion in the country” does not exceed 3-5 percent.
Immunity to infection is lifelong. Until the end of life, a person who has had measles will not get sick again. History knows only isolated cases of recurrent disease, this is the result of a violation in the work of the human immune system.
– Measles is a vaccine-preventable infection, its spread is very well blocked by vaccination. Therefore, those who have not yet been vaccinated should do it, – said Anna Popova. – I especially wanted to appeal to women who are going to become mothers. When planning a pregnancy, checking your immune status for all infections is the right time. Getting an infection like measles, or worse, rubella, during pregnancy is very dangerous.
Also, the head of Rospotrebnadzor recommended that Russians, when planning trips for weekends and May holidays, check their immunity from measles by passing an antibody test in the laboratory. If the level of antibodies is low, it is worth getting revaccinated.
