Current vaccine methods are insufficient to eradicate measles

The paper, published today in the journal The Lancet Global Health, explores the feasibility

Although the number of new cases of measles and rubella worldwide has decreased significantly, there is still a gap

Lead author Amy Winter, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Georgia School of Public Health, said: "Measles is one of the most contagious respiratory infections, and it spreads quickly, so it's difficult to control

The basic reproduction number (R0) of measles is about 18, which indicates the number of people who are infected who may spread the disease in a fully susceptible population

In 2017, the Director-General of the World Health Organization requested a report

The assessment was conducted

Using four national disease transmission models and one local country model, the modeling team predicted annual case rates

Both vaccination programmes use two main vaccination methods, routine vaccination, as part

The first "business as usual" vaccination programme will continue vaccination coverage and campaigns in the future

These models suggest that current vaccine strategies can eliminate rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in all 93 counties, but not measles

"The strategy we are currently using is to focus on increasing routine vaccination coverage and supplementing it through a nationwide vaccination campaign until routine vaccination reaches a sufficiently high level, but this alone is not enough to eliminate measles

The authors evaluated two strategies that could help a country eliminate measles more quickly and reduce the probability of measles outbreaks: One is to improve the way complementary vaccine campaigns are implemented to ensure that children who are not routinely vaccinated are vaccinated

The second is to improve the fairness of vaccination rates, first of all, to focus routine and supplementary vaccinations on the subregions with the lowest vaccination rates, so that they meet the standards

"A world that will never be free of measles and rubella would be an incredible achievement

"In other words, we need to work harder to bring measles and rubella vaccines to the world's most underserved populations

The key, Winter warned, is to remain vigilant, monitor rubella and measles cases, and respond quickly to potential outbreaks, even after

"We live in a globally interconnected world, so where the virus has been wiped out, the importation of the virus will bring constant pressure
," she said.
"That's why it's important
to maintain high vaccination coverage and continue to improve surveillance for these diseases.
"

Journal Reference:

1. Amy K Winter, Brian Lambert, Daniel Klein, Petra Klepac, Timos Papadopoulos, Shaun Truelove, Colleen Burgess, Heather Santos, Jennifer K Knapp, Susan E Reef, Lidia K Kayembe, Stephanie Shendale , Katrina Kretsinger, Justin Lessler, Emilia Vynnycky, Kevin McCarthy, Matthew Ferrari, Mark Jit.
   Feasibility of measles and rubella vaccination programmes for disease elimination: a modelling study.
   The Lancet Global Health, 2022; 10 (10): e1412 DOI: 10.
   1016/S2214-109X(22)00335-7