In a report released Wednesday, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that millions of children are now at risk of contracting measles, which is among the most infectious diseases in the world.
In 2021, officials said, there will be about 9 million infections and 128,000 deaths from measles worldwide.
The global organization and the American Foundation added that the continuous decline in vaccination, poor disease surveillance, and delayed response plans due to Covid-19, in addition to more than one ongoing outbreak in more than 20 countries, means that “measles is an imminent threat in every region of the world.”
Scientists estimate that at least 95 percent of the population needs a vaccine to protect them from epidemics, and the global organization and the American Foundation recorded that only 81 percent of children received their first dose of the measles vaccine, while 71 percent received their second dose, in less than Global coverage rates for the first dose of measles vaccine since 2008.
Dr. said. “The record number of unvaccinated children exposed to measles shows the severe damage to which vaccination systems have been exposed during the Covid pandemic,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.
Measles is spread mainly through direct contact or through the air and causes symptoms including fever, muscle pain, itchy skin and blisters on the face and upper neck. Most measles-related deaths result from complications including brain swelling and dehydration.
According to the World Health Organization, the most serious complications occur in children under five years of age and adults over 30 years of age.
More than 95 percent of measles deaths occur in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia. There is no specific treatment for measles, but the two-dose vaccine is 97 percent effective in preventing severe illness and death from measles.
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