Martinović: In three months, 1.027 girls received the HPV vaccine

In Montenegro, in the first three months since immunization began, 1.027 girls, aged nine years or about 21 percent, received the HPV vaccine, said epidemiologist of the Institute for Public Health (IJZ) Adis Martinović.

Martinović told the MINA agency that it was a good result for such a short period.

"The fact that interest in the HPV vaccine is high among older girls is particularly encouraging. For this reason, the state is planning to expand vaccination with the HPV vaccine to older girls as well," he said.

Martinović said that Montenegro is threatened by a smallpox epidemic, and it is only a matter of time when it will happen.

"Considering that smallpox is one of the most contagious diseases, and that out of ten unvaccinated, nine of them will become infected if they come into contact with an infected person, only one imported case is enough to cause an epidemic," he said.

Martinović said that it is difficult to estimate when that will happen.

"Whether this can happen in the next month, two or six months or more, it is difficult to forecast, bearing in mind that it depends on the occurrence of cases in the environment, increased travel during the upcoming holidays as well as an increased influx of tourists during the winter tourist season," he said.

According to Martinović, unlike chickenpox, which rarely causes complications, smallpox is dangerous precisely because of its complications.

"The most common complications are diarrhea, otitis media, pneumonia, inflammation of the meninges - meningitis, inflammation of the brain - encephalitis, as well as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis - a serious, often fatal complication of the brain that can occur several years after measles has passed," Martinovic said.

He reminded that the first dose of the MMR vaccine is given to children at the age of one.

Martinović said that last year, about 12 percent of children born in 2021 were vaccinated, of which about eight percent were vaccinated on time, which is at the level of the timeliness of vaccinations from 2021 for children born in 2020.

He stated that timely vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella is considered vaccination up to 15 months of age.

"In Montenegro, as well as in countries in the region, there is a trend of postponing the MMR vaccine until the child speaks and walks, so, for example, around 35 percent of children born in 2020 have been vaccinated so far," he said.

Martinović said that the IJZ has prepared an action plan to increase coverage with the MMR vaccine, which includes multisectoral cooperation, and includes a series of activities divided into three groups, according to the time of undertaking, that is, the necessity of immediate undertaking.

He explained that at the proposal of the Institute, the Ministry of Health formed a national commission for routine immunization, whose task is to coordinate and control the implementation of the action plan for increasing MMR vaccine coverage.

"The formation of municipal teams whose task is to implement the campaign on the importance of MMR vaccination, as well as to undertake the activities foreseen in the national and local action plans, is underway," he added.

Martinović said that the negative trend of vaccination with the MMR vaccine in Montenegro, as well as with other vaccines, but in a smaller percentage, has been observed since 2014.

"There are many reasons, and among them the activity of anti-vaxxer groups from the region on social networks, among which unfortunately there are also doctors, parents' unjustified fear of autism, postponement of vaccinations even in the case of common colds," he said.

According to Martinović, the covid-19 pandemic made the situation even more difficult.

"Because vaccination was practically stopped, and in the beginning there was a great fear of infection with the SARS-CoV2 virus, so parents postponed the MMR vaccine for that reason," he added.

Martinović warned about the seriousness of measles and urged not all parents to vaccinate their children with the MMR vaccine and protect them from possible complications.

Referring to the BCG vaccination coverage, Martinović said that in the last few years, immunization with that vaccine has been around 90 percent.

According to him, BCG vaccination represents the largest coverage among vaccines from the mandatory immunization calendar.

Martinović added that it is still below the required 95 percent.

"The percentage of children vaccinated with the BCG vaccine last year will be known at the beginning of this year, given that the BCG vaccine is mostly given in maternity hospitals and only later registered in the vaccination record by the selected pediatrician," he said.

Martinović said that recently there has been a trend of parents delaying and refusing the BCG vaccine, which can result in unvaccinated children falling ill with severe forms of tuberculosis.

"The causes can be found in the growing negative influence of social networks, which spread misinformation about vaccines, as well as the influence of anti-vaccinationists, so that parents are increasingly trusting alternative, unverified sources, rather than professionals," he said.

Speaking about the current epidemiological situation related to covid-19, Martinović said that it is stable, but that due to the holidays, an increased number of cases can be expected after mid-January, bearing in mind the increased number of tourists and the gathering of a larger number of people due to organized celebrations.

Martinović said that the IJZ regularly monitors cases of all infectious diseases, and among them, especially cases of covid-19.

He stated that one of the consequences of the coronavirus infection is long-term covid or post-covid, which occurs after infection with the SARS CoV-2 virus, and can last from a few weeks to more than a year after infection.

Martinović said that post-covid is characterized by various symptoms such as fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, headache, pain in the chest, joints, muscles, palpitations, diarrhea.

The post-covid period, he added, is also characterized by sleep problems, mood swings, difficulties with thinking and concentration - the so-called "brain fog", problems with taste and smell, changes in the menstrual cycle.

"Millions of people in the world have complained about long-term covid, i.e. post-covid. The examination of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, including in Montenegro, is in the period ahead of us, the results of which we can expect only after the end of the pandemic," concluded Martinović.