Measles prevalence and vaccination coverage of children in Ukraine (period 2012-2023)

The last decade has become a real test for medicine, associated with mass outbreaks of measles infection, both among children and adults. Under these conditions, Ukraine's position was extremely difficult, since the last measles outbreak (2017-2019) demonstrated high morbidity, as a result of inadequate specific vaccination. Aim - to investigate the features of measles prevalence and track the activity of a specific vaccination program among children in Ukraine. Materials and methods. Official reporting documents of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the World Health Organization (WHO) on the number of children with measles in the period 2012-2023 were studied. An analysis of the activity of the vaccination campaign in the period 2012-2023 was conducted. from measles, mumps, rubella (MMR). Results. It is known that measles has a cyclical course, the last outbreak in Ukraine was in 2017-2019. It demonstrated the dependence of the number of patients on the volume of vaccination. In particular, among children aged 1-4 years, one dose was received maximally in 2021 (75%), and the minimum coverage was in 2016 (19.23%) and 2017 (17.09%). 100% coverage with two doses of vaccination was only in 2021, in other periods - the number of vaccinated children is significantly lower than recommended. High incidence of measles was accompanied by a significant proportion of hospitalized patients. The high frequency of hospitalization among schoolchildren is of particular concern. After analyzing the situation with the activity of the vaccination campaign in Ukraine in recent years, a decision was made to conduct a “catch-up vaccination”, which covered 153 thousand children. Conclusions. Measles infection remains one of the most common and severe, which can significantly reduce the quality of a person’s life in the future. Cyclic outbreaks of measles depend, first of all, on the level of vaccination. In Ukraine, in conditions of war, the low level of measles vaccination coverage of children remains, which exposes them to the danger of another epidemic. The practice of “catch-up vaccination” can improve the protection of children and increase the level of collective immunity. The authors declare no conflict of interest.