A new epidemic; "We thought it would disappear"; Serbia is in danger, there's no cure

A new epidemic; "We thought it would disappear"; Serbia is in danger, there's no cure

Serbian epidemiologists warn that, due to the decreasing number of vaccinated children, it is a matter of days when we will have another epidemic in Serbia.

According to the WHO, more than 42,000 infected people were registered in Europe in 2023, while there were 941 a year earlier, which is why they requested urgent measures to prevent further spread.

In their opinion, this is the result of fewer children being vaccinated against smallpox due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Epidemiologist Dr. Nebojša Bohucki reminds "Blic" that in 2017/2018. 5,800 patients were registered in Serbia, of which 93 percent were unvaccinated, i.e. incompletely vaccinated or with unknown vaccination status. One third of those infected were hospitalized due to the severity of the clinical picture followed by complications.

"In that 2017/2018 epidemic, according to 'Batut' data, we had 15 deaths, among which were four children under the age of five. When it comes to MMR vaccine coverage, it would have to be 95 percent or more, and the last data for Serbia published by 'Batut' was from 2022, and according to those data, coverage for the first vaccine received in the second year of life was 81.3 percent, which is far below 95 percent. The second vaccine is received in at the age of seven, before starting school, and 'Batut' says, when we look at 2022, that coverage at the level of the republic is 89.5 percent, which is not good," says Dr. Nebojsa Bohucki.

As he adds, in the 1970s and 1980s, when the vaccine was made and when it came into use in a large number of countries, it was thought that by the year 2000, measles would disappear from the face of the planet Earth. "However, in 2024, we have a problem with a threatening epidemic in the whole of Europe because vaccination coverage has decreased," says Dr. Bohucki, who also notes that vaccination coverage is lower in Europe as well.

"There is no cure for this disease. This is very important to say, because usually when we talk about an infectious disease, we talk about prevention and treatment. We have an excellent vaccine for prevention, but we don't have a drug that works against this virus itself. That's why the story of fighting measles is the story of immunization and achieving and maintaining a high vaccination coverage of 95%. However, the vaccine lobby did what they did, it's not just COVID to blame. We had a problem even before the COVID pandemic, not only here but in other countries, there was fake news about the harm vaccines. And that is not true. It is harmful to be unvaccinated and when someone gets sick, all kinds of things happen," says Dr. Nebojša Bohucki.

Well-known epidemiologist Dr Zoran Radovanović tells Blic that measles is a serious disease. "It is a serious disease and, unlike other infections, it leaves the body in a state of reduced resistance for several weeks. It takes time for the immune system to reset. After smallpox, another disease often occurs," says Dr Zoran Radovanović.

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