Measles Vaccination and Outbreaks in Croatia from 2001 to 2019; A Comparative Study to Other European Countries

Ines Drenjančević, Senka Samardžić, Ana Stupin, Katalin Borocz, Peter Nemeth and Timea Berki
Additional contact information
Ines Drenjančević: Institute and Department of Physiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Senka Samardžić: Teaching Institute of Public Health of the Osijek-Baranya County, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Ana Stupin: Institute and Department of Physiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Katalin Borocz: Clinical Centre, Department of Immunology and Biotechnology, University of Pécs Medical School, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Peter Nemeth: Clinical Centre, Department of Immunology and Biotechnology, University of Pécs Medical School, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Timea Berki: Clinical Centre, Department of Immunology and Biotechnology, University of Pécs Medical School, 7624 Pécs, Hungary

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Due to the current burden of COVID-19 on public health institutions, increased migration and seasonal touristic traveling, there is an increased risk of epidemic outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). The aim of the present study was to analyze the epidemiological data on MMR immunization coverage and the number of measles cases in 2001–2019 in Croatia and a number of European countries. Results revealed a decreasing trend in vaccination in 2001–2019 throughout Europe. However, Croatia and Hungary still have the highest primary and revaccination coverage, compared to other analyzed countries. The highest number of measles cases was in 2017 in Romania. There was no significant correlation between the percentage of primary vaccination and the number of measles cases (r = −0.0528, p = 0.672), but there was a significant negative correlation between the percentage of revaccination and the number of measles cases (r = −0.445, p < 0.0001). In conclusion, the results of the present study emphasize the necessity to perform a full protocol of vaccination to reach appropriate protection from potential epidemic outbreaks. Furthermore, in the light of present migrations, documenting the migrants’ flow and facilitating vaccination as needed is of utmost importance to prevent future epidemics.

Keywords: measles-rubella-mumps vaccination; Europe; Croatia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/4140/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/4140/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:7:p:4140-:d:784017

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().