In a follow-up on the measles epidemic in Ukraine, health officials report an additional 3,450 cases (1,502 adults and 1,948 children) during the third week of 2019, bringing the total to 8,498 cases to date.
In addition, three additional measles fatalities were reported last week, bring the death count to five.
The highest rates of morbidity are seen in Lviv (a total of 1,559 people: 544 adults and 1,015 children), Rivne (827: 257 adults and 570 children), Vinnitsa (813: 341 adults and 472 children), Khmelnytsky (629: 332 adults and 279 children) and Kyiv (673: 356 adults and 317 children).
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine initiated extraordinary measures to protect against measles. In January, in Lviv region, a special operation was launched to raise the level of immunization of children aged 6 to 18 who missed scheduled vaccinations for any reason. Emergency measures for the immunization of children, which will begin in schools of Lviv region in the second half of February, are also planned in other regions of Ukraine.
The Ministry of Health calls for parents to vaccinate children according to the timing of the vaccination calendar and to recover the vaccine as soon as possible if they have missed a planned vaccination.
Ukraine: 54k measles cases in 2018, Vaccination campaign to start in February
