Every year since 2005, World Immunisation Week has been held in the last week of April to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination. The aim of this event is to raise awareness of the need for preventive vaccines and to address gaps in knowledge about infection prevention.
The tradition of World Immunisation Week was established in 2012, and currently more than 180 countries around the world hold events to mark the event.
Vaccine prophylaxis against infectious diseases is widely recognised worldwide as one of the most successful and effective public health measures to preserve human life and health. However, at present, the refusal to vaccinate, the presence of false medical refusals and the low level of knowledge about vaccination contribute to the fact that the coverage of the population with preventive vaccinations is steadily decreasing every year, which affects the state of collective immunity.
In Kursk Region, vaccination is carried out in health care institutions within the framework of the National Calendar of Preventive Vaccinations, which provides for compulsory vaccination against 12 diseases. The success of immunoprophylaxis is evident, as evidenced by the absence of cases of diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis among Kursk Region residents. According to the data of the Centre of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Kursk region for the last 9 years among Kursk residents there has not been registered a single case of epidemic mumps, from 2018 to 2023 – not a single case of rubella.
“There is a misconception that vaccination is necessary only for young children, and the adult population does not need vaccination. This is a myth. Each vaccine has its own schedule of administration, and sometimes revaccination is necessary after a certain period of time even in adulthood” – says the head of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology FGBOU VO KSMU of the Ministry of Health of Russia Yudina S.M.
A thematic talk with patients of the Kursk Regional Multidisciplinary Hospital was held to raise public awareness about the necessity of vaccination of adults against various infections at the Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology together with volunteers of SHVO KSMU. After the talk, the patients were given brochures with the optimal vaccination schedule.