The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (or UNICEF) are concerned at suspension of vaccination of children against rubella and measles in Ukraine.
Ukrainian News learned this from a statement by the news center of the UN.
The WHO and UNICEF fear the move might cause eruption of infectious diseases in Ukraine.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund said Ukraine had severe eruptions of measles in 2005-2006, when 50,000 children contracted the disease, which accounted for 80% of the cases in Europe.
The WHO and UNICEF warns that more eruptions of infectious diseases will face Ukraine again without a campaign of immunization.
Thus, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund urge the government to confirm commitments Ukraine assumed in line with the strategy of the WHO on liquidation of rubella and measles in Europe by 2010.
A joint statement by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund reads that a decision by the government of Ukraine to suspend the vaccination followed a death of 17-year-old boy in Kramatorsk.
Meantime, a special commission of the Ukrainian Health Ministry is investigating the case and has said that early findings of the investigation have established no link between the death of the boy and the vaccination.
The WHO and UNICEF express their regret concerning the decision suspending the campaign and withdrawal of the vaccine from use until official results of the investigation.
The WHO and UNICEF state that the vaccine against rubella and measles was produced in compliance with the highest international standards by one of the largest producers of vaccine against rubella and measles in the world - Serum Institute of India.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund said the vaccine has been used in Ukraine since 2002 and over 1.3 million have undergone vaccination since then.
The vaccine has been used to immunize about 34 million of young people in Europe and the CIS.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, on May 17, the Health Ministry suspended vaccination against rubella and measles.
An eleventh-grade schoolboy died in Kramatorsk (Donetsk region) on May 13, one day after he was vaccinated against measles and rubella.
Moreover, 92 people, including 87 children, were hospitalized in Kramatorsk during the May 15-17 period because their health deteriorated after they were vaccinated against measles and rubella (the ZA 26-X vaccine).
Moreover, a teen-aged schoolboy was taken to the intensive care unit of the Kremenchuk children's hospital on May 15 after vaccination against measles and rubella.
Press conference entitled “Biofuel production in Ukraine: what projects to develop and what to forget about”
