SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
A measles epidemic has been declared in the whole country, the Public Health Centre said on Tuesday. The reason behind the decision is the number of measles cases, which has since the start of the year reached 961. The decision to declare an epidemic aims at introduction of additional measures, such as a ban on unvaccinated children going to kindergarten at the level of the whole country. Epidemiologist Vladimir Mikic stated that the same ban couldn’t be introduced for schools because the law said primary and secondary education was compulsory. Most of the patients are children of pre-school age. Therefore, the vaccination limit will be reduced from 13-month babies to six-month ones. Currently, 70 children are hospitalised. Commenting on the situation, VMRO-DPMNE levelled fierce criticism at Health Minister Venko Filipce. “While Filipce is engaged in the campaign of presidential candidate Stevo Pendarovski, the epidemic is spreading,” the opposition party pointed out.
