Lmeasles is a childhood disease whose consequences can be fatal (pneumonia, encephalitis, etc.) and have highly disabling lifelong aftereffects (blindness, acute otitis, etc.), but which can be avoided through adequate vaccination (two doses of vaccine). . Measles remains a major cause of death in children under 5 years of age, particularly in countries where vaccination coverage is low. “The measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine over the past 50 years,” recalls WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
A coverage rate of 95% or more, with two doses of measles vaccine, is necessary to prevent measles epidemics and protect populations against this most contagious human virus (one infected person can contaminate up to 18 others insufficiently immunized against the virus). Only that’s it. More than 22 million children have not received their first dose in 2023, according to WHO and CDC estimates. Globally, about 83% of children received their first dose of vaccine last year, but only 74% received the recommended second dose. The new data shows that around 107,500 people, most of whom were children under the age of 5, died from measles in 2023.
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