Doctors say anti-vaccination propaganda is the reason for the return of measles

Doctors cited strong anti-vaccination propaganda as one of the main problems that contributed to the increase in the number of measles infections in RUSSIA. These are the poll results

Мощная пропаганда со стороны антипрививочников, по мнению трети опрошенных врачей (33,4%), является одной из основных проблем, способствовавших росту числа заражений корью в России. Также значительное влияние на рост заболеваемости, по мнению специалистов, оказали неконтролируемые миграционные потоки, особенно из стран ближнего зарубежья (34,2%). Еще 17% врачей отметили недостаточную осведомленность населения о важности вакцинации. Об этом свидетельствуют данные опроса (есть у РБК), проведенного сервисом «Справочник врача» в период с 28 апреля по 5 мая. В нем приняли участие 1513 врачей.

Аудитория приложения «Справочник врача» — более 400 тыс. врачей различных специализаций: врачи-специалисты, средний медицинский персонал, ординаторы и интерны. В приложении могут зарегистрироваться лица без медицинского образования, но им будут недоступны инструментарий врача, участие в исследованиях и т.д. Пользователь нарушит политику приложения, если укажет, что он врач, не будучи таковым. Доля таких участников минимальна и, по утверждению разработчиков, не сказывается на показателях репрезентативности.

Among the main measures that can increase confidence in vaccination in general and measles vaccination in particular, doctors named the provision of fresh and accessible to all scientific data in the field of immunology, vaccine prevention and vaccine production (57.6%), large-scale state support for public HEALTH education ( 53.4%) and the fight against anti-vaccine forces in healthcare (46.5%).

At the same time, according to the results of the survey, 67.1% of respondents rated the current situation with measles as moderate or calm. More than 60% of experts also do not believe that measles in the current conditions can become a new threat, similar to the covid-19 pandemic .

Only 15.7% called the situation with the incidence of measles in Russia tense, 0.8% - critical.

Nearly 70% of doctors noted that they had been vaccinated against measles twice. Among unvaccinated doctors, the most popular answers to the question of why they were not vaccinated were either the lack of universal vaccination in their childhood (28.6%), or the position that it is better to have measles in childhood than to be vaccinated against it (30%).

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At the same time, 93.1% of doctors believe that measles vaccination is now mandatory in the absence of contraindications. More than 80% of doctors also noted that they did not encounter complications after measles vaccination.

Almost 50% of doctors believe that it does not matter what drugs (foreign or domestic) the patient will be vaccinated against measles. But at the same time, slightly less than half of the surveyed doctors (46.2%) are not aware of the availability of anti-measles immunoglobulin in their medical institution.

As Alena Konkova-Reidman, professor of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the South Ural State Medical University, noted in an interview with RBC, measles, before the advent of a vaccine, according to WHO, claimed 2.6 million lives. Over the past ten years , Russia has experienced at least two major outbreaks of measles: in 2014 (4711 cases) and in 2018 (4478 cases), the expert emphasized. As practice shows, the only effective means of preventing measles in both children and adults is vaccination . The opinion that it is easier to get measles than to get vaccinated, the DOCTOR called a delusion. In addition, referring to data from the journal Scince from 2015, Konkova-Reidman noted that the transferred measles reduces immunity.to other infectious diseases for up to three years.

She also noted that, according to the UNICEF report, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the decline in the number of medical and social services provided to children. Thus, in 2020, 23 million children were not vaccinated, which is 3.7 million more than in 2019, and this was the highest figure since 2009. Violations of routine immunization activities can lead to an increase in the number of susceptible individuals, ”added Konkova-Reidman, noting that in 2022 the percentage of children not vaccinated against measles as part of the National Immunization Calendar increased in the regions due to refusal to vaccinate.

At the end of April, the chief freelance epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health, Roman Polibin, said that the identification of individual cases of the disease is associated with unvaccinated and persons who do not have information about vaccinations. According to him, vaccination against measles is now primarily subject to children and adults under the age of 35 who have not had measles, have not been vaccinated against measles or have been vaccinated once, and who do not have information about vaccinations, including those who are nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle, internally displaced persons and migrants. The regional departments of Rospotrebnadzor interviewed by RBC in April also noted that the main increase in the incidence of measles is due to the active actions of anti-vaccinators and migration processes.