![]() ![]() ![]() This will “add to the litany of woes,” Beyrer said. ![]() Still, disease outbreaks could compound the miseries of Ukrainians, pose challenges for the countries that shelter them and add to the war’s death toll. Russia’s bombardment of hospitals and civilian centers has killed at least 1,035 people, including more than 112 children, and brought the care of people with life-threatening and chronic illnesses to a halt. Having low vaccination rates against preventable diseases may seem like the least of Ukrainians’ worries right now. Gabriele Fontana, UNICEF’s regional health advisor for Europe and Central Asia. Sizable minorities have also eschewed tried-and-true vaccines against polio and measles, putting refugees - and to a lesser extent, their new hosts - at an elevated risk of outbreaks as they cram into tight places, said Dr. And virtually none of Ukraine’s children have been vaccinated against COVID-19.īut the coronavirus is far from the only concern. That’s because the COVID-19 vaccines made available to them have varied in their effectiveness against the Omicron variant, and the minority who are fully vaccinated are very unlikely to have gotten boosters, which offer the best protection against severe disease. Ukrainians’ vaccination rate may still overstate their level of protection, Beyrer said. But as growing numbers of Ukrainians get backed up at receiving centers, “there is a higher risk of communicable disease outbreaks,” the agency said. Many Ukrainian refugees have been settled away from the congested borders, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said in a recent bulletin. That gives public health officials reason for worry as more than 3.6 million Ukrainian refugees have poured into other countries and millions more are displaced within Ukraine, often hunkered down in crowded, frigid places without clean water or electricity. Childhood immunizations for diseases such as measles and polio are among the continent’s lowest as well. Just 35% of residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 1% are partially vaccinated - among the lowest such rates in Europe, according to data from Oxford University. In Ukraine, the seeds of vaccine skepticism fell on particularly fertile ground. The offensive was part of a larger effort to sow division within fledgling democracies and heighten suspicion of the West across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. The anti-vaccine messages were actively encouraged by President Vladimir Putin’s government, broadcast by Russian state television, and amplified on social media by Russian computer bots. Long before Russia launched its military assault, Ukrainians had been targeted for years by another Russian campaign - one designed to undermine confidence in Western vaccines and the governments offering them to their citizens. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |