The Polish Ministry of Health reports today (computer translated) there have been 17 measles cases in Mazowsze in east-central Poland.

Image/Robfoto via pixabay
Image/Robfoto via pixabay

Health officials say the situation is under control; however, they do say, ” If the unvaccinated population was bigger, we would certainly have several hundred cases.”

Health minister Prof. Łukasz Szumowski said the cases all resulted from parents failing to get their children vaccinated.

“We have to protect these young children in such a way that we all get vaccinated according to the vaccination schedule. They can not have immunity yet, they only have it from their mother. They do not have enough immune system to develop full immunity and they are unfortunately without a protective shield – said Minister Szumowski. We should protect them by clearing out the population above 95%. This is our duty as an adult – he added and appealed to his parents: vaccinate children, according to the vaccination calendar.

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Health officials also stressed that measles vaccinations are safe. “There is no rational proof that vaccination can harm, on the contrary. We have a civic duty to the whole society: to vaccinate to build population resistance, so that we do not endanger children who can not yet be vaccinated, immune deficits, those that are waiting for transplants” – added Chief Sanitary Inspector, Jarosław Pinkas.

The national consultant in the field of epidemiology, MD, Ph.D. Iwona Paradowska-Stankiewicz, reminded that measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the population. – A sick person can infect from 12 to 19 people from the immediate environment. In a situation where we have a good weapon, which is vaccination, it should be used and prevent illnesses and complications, which unfortunately are not so rare – she said.

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In Poland, from 1 January to 15 October 2018, 128 cases of measles cases were registered. In the same period of 2017, there were 58 of them reported. Measles in Poland are associated mainly with pulling the disease from abroad or with the infection of people who are not vaccinated against measles by people who are not Polish.