Travellers urged to take measles vaccine

The chief medical officer in the Faroes yesterday queried the Ministry of Health why Faroese citizens are not being offered free measles vaccines.

Denmark has started providing free measles vaccines in the wake of the current measles outbreak in Europe.

Lars Møller, the Faroese chief medical officer, says that he is still awaiting a reply from the health ministry.

He advises everyone planning to travel out of the country, who has not had the measles or who has not already been vaccinated, to take the vaccine immediately.

Yesterday, the chief medical officer in Greenland urged all citizens to ensure that they have had the so-called MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine if they are planning to travel abroad.

Europe, and Southern Europe in particular, is currently seeing a deadly measles outbreak.

Georgia, France, Italy, Greece, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine all recorded more than 1,000 measles cases in the first half of the year. Ukraine was hit the hardest, with 23,000 infections.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than 41,000 people were infected with measles from January to June 2018. This is well above the total number of cases in any other year this past decade.

At least 37 people have died from the disease in the first six months of the year, compared to 35 in total for 2017.

The WHO has urged all European countries to immediately implement measures to stop further spread of the highly contagious disease.

Measles cannot be treated with antibiotics. Children and pregnant women are at particular risk of infection.

A report on measles will soon be published on the Faroese chief medical officer’s website.

See also: Risk of measles infection at Copenhagen airport

Translated by prosa.fo