The Polish population has lost its collective immunity to measles. The reason is low vaccination rates

Until now, only Polish doctors raised the alarm, now also UNICEF. The United Nations Children's Fund warns: in Poland, the youngest are not protected against measles.

– In Poland, we cannot talk about population immunity. This means that children who, for various reasons, cannot be vaccinated against measles are much more likely to contract the disease – warns Jan Bratkowski from UNICEF Poland.

UNICEF cites data from 2022, when only 91 percent of children received the first dose of the measles vaccine, and only 77 percent the second. The safe threshold for population immunity is 95 percent of those vaccinated.

– There are more and more unvaccinated children at risk of getting sick. We have a lot of traffic across the border of various people who come to us, including unvaccinated ones, and our citizens also leave, especially now during the holiday season, and all this is a risk factor – points out Professor Ewa Majda-Stanisławska, head of the Department of Infectious, Tropical and Parasitic Diseases for Children at the Provincial Specialist Hospital named after Dr. Władysław Biegański in Łódź.

For several months now, a wave of illnesses has been sweeping through Poland. Since the beginning of the year, the sanitary-epidemiological station has recorded 232 cases of measles. In the same period last year, there were only 22.

– We should not see any cases of measles, because the vaccine is very effective and if vaccination levels exceeded 95 percent, there would be no cases. Any drop below this high percentage of 95 percent results in the formation of measles outbreaks – explains Professor Ewelina Gowin from the Observation and Infectious Diseases Department of the Wielkopolska Center for Paediatrics.

In reality, the epidemiological situation may be even worse. According to the new Chief Sanitary Inspector, the percentage of people not vaccinated against measles may be higher than the official data.

SEE ALSO: Measles cases on the rise. Parents report “terrifying” symptoms

– Until the end of 2023, data on unvaccinated people in Poland were collected based on declarations, most often from parents who refused vaccinations. Many of these declarations were not updated. Secondly, not all parents submitted such declarations, therefore information on how many people, children, in Poland are unvaccinated according to the vaccination schedule was practically unknown – says Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski, Chief Sanitary Inspector.

That is why the sanitary inspection has changed the way it collects data. It is also supposed to reach out to families of unvaccinated children more effectively and remind them about vaccinations.

The law will change and inspectors will hand out tickets to reluctant parents, which are easier to enforce than fines.