The General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), attached to the Ministry of Health, emphasizes the importance of receiving the two doses of the measles vaccine included in the vaccination schedule to achieve individual immunization and prevent the transmission of the disease to people who, for some reason, cannot receive the vaccine.
The General Directorate of Public Health of the SCS insists that the vaccine is the safest and most effective way to avoid contracting and transmitting measles, a disease for which no cases have been reported in the Canary Islands in recent months, but for which a rebound has been detected in different areas of the national territory, according to the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network.
The measles vaccine (a fundamental component of the so-called MMR vaccine) is administered in two doses, at 12 months and 3 years, and 95% of the Canarian population is correctly vaccinated in the first year of life. Vaccination is also recommended for adolescents, young people and adults born after 1978 who have not had the disease and have no documented history of having received two doses of the MMR vaccine.
According to the most recent data available, corresponding to 2023, the coverage of the MMR vaccine reached 95%, while the coverage of the second dose was 89%.
Importance of vaccination
The most effective preventive measure is vaccination. In Spain, vaccination against measles was introduced into the childhood vaccination schedule in 1975, and since 1981 it has been associated with the MMR vaccine. In 1996, a second dose was incorporated, rapidly improving coverage and achieving a drastic reduction in measles epidemics, so that since 2000 it has been an infrequent disease that mainly affects adults and children under one year of age who have not been vaccinated.
In 2001, Spain joined the goal of eliminating measles led by the World Health Organization (WHO). The measles elimination plan was established with two fundamental strategies: to strengthen the immunity of the population against measles by achieving high coverage with the first and second doses of the vaccine in childhood; and to establish surveillance to identify any contagious case of measles and control the transmission to cohabitants or other people in contact with the case in time.
In 2017, the WHO declared Spain a country free of endemic transmission of measles due to the few cases and outbreaks identified. However, recently 142 diagnosed cases have been reported in eleven autonomous communities and the two autonomous cities, all imported or linked to imported cases, and there are eight active outbreaks that are still being investigated.
Measles is a febrile exanthematic disease that begins with fever, nasal congestion, cough, sometimes preceded by the appearance of small reddish spots with a whitish center on the oral mucosa (inner side of the cheeks). The exanthema, which appears between the third and seventh day after the onset of symptoms, begins on the face and spreads throughout the body.
The disease is generally benign, although it can be complicated by pneumonia, otitis, laryngotracheitis and diarrhea. Rarely, it can cause encephalitis or death (especially in childhood). Measles is very contagious and is transmitted through the air.
In recent years, an increase in incidence has been observed in different countries where this disease had previously been eliminated (for example, the United Kingdom), as a result of the loss of confidence in vaccines by the population. If vaccination coverage decreases, measles can reappear and spread rapidly, causing outbreaks that can culminate in hospital admissions and deaths even in developed countries, as has recently been demonstrated in an epidemic outbreak in the state of Texas (United States), where a few weeks ago the death of an unvaccinated child was recorded due to this easily preventable disease.
The General Directorate of Public Health is calling on the population to review the vaccination status of children aged 4 years and check that they have received two doses of the measles vaccine, as well as people who were born after 1978 and have no record of having been vaccinated or having had the disease naturally, consult their health center to receive the vaccine. Healthcare personnel, in particular, because they are at greater risk of exposure to possible incident cases and because they represent an important proportion of cases in the outbreaks reported in Spain and other countries, must ensure that they are properly immunized against this disease.
