For decades, there have been practically no cases of measles in Estonia; the vaccination rate in 2019 was 94.7%. Nevertheless, 26 infections of the contagious disease have already been recorded, and both children and adults are at risk.
“For decades, we have been living quietly. It happened that during the year no cases were recorded at all”, – complains Irina Filippova, specialist of the infectious diseases surveillance department of the Health Department.
According to her, 26 cases of measles are a lot for Estonia. At the same time, local authorities believe that migrants brought the virus with them, because the attention of Health Department is concentrated on Ukrainians, about 20 thousand of whom are located in the Baltic Republic.
As you know, last year Ukraine faced a measles epidemic. Only in the period from December 2018 to May 2019, more than 52 thousand Ukrainians fell ill with measles, 27.5 thousand of them were children.
In this regard, Filippova called for caution of Estonian employers who hire Ukrainian citizens.
“They need to vaccinate workers, regardless of whether they have vaccination documents or not, because they could be faked”, – explains an employee of the Department of Health.
However, the situation is complicated by the fact that in Estonia there is a shortage of vaccines, since the drug is imported in limited quantities. Those who did not get the vaccine are forced to buy it themselves, which is designed only for conscious citizens.
As News Front previously reported, the situation with medicines in Estonia is extremely difficult. Despite the fact that the Baltic Republic has become one of the leaders in financing the military sector, as required by Washington, Estonian authorities have been unable to provide vital preparations for their own citizens. So, in the capital’s children’s hospital there is not even penicillin.