MMR uptake rate very high in Cyprus: no measles risk

CYPRUS is considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to have one of the highest immunisation coverages in the world and has experienced no boycott of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

According to a Health Ministry official, Cyprus is expected to be named one of the leading countries in immunisation coverage with the release of next month’s WHO survey on immunisation. The official rubbished fears that a measles epidemic currently facing Britain could also be of concern in Cyprus.

One of the British experts who raised alarm bells in 1998 by reporting on a possible ling between the MMR vaccine and autism, has now come out in favour of the triple-jab saying there was unequivocal evidence that MMR is not a risk factor for autism. However, Dr Simon Murch warned of major measles epidemics in Britain this winter if parents continued their boycott of the vaccine.

An official from the Ministry of Health yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that after the autism scare a few years ago did not impact the vaccine schedule in Cyprus.

She said the percentage of immunised children remained the same, and even rose in the last few years. “When the rumour came out, the Health Ministry and Paediatricians Society warned people not to stop the vaccine because there was no proof of a link,” she said.

The Health Ministry expects the results of the WHO survey which comes out next month to show that the number of MMR vaccines has increased in the last three years.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.