Many private clinics in Moscow have run out of monovaccines against measles, as most of the drugs are sent to the public sector to prevent the disease due to the aggravation of the situation with measles in Russia. It is reported by RBC with reference to representatives of medical networks. At the same time, earlier in April, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, reported that cases of the disease had already been detected in 44 regions.
In January-March of this year, it was not possible to completely cover the need of the regions for a single drug, the material notes. In the spring, private clinics in Moscow, amid rising demand for vaccination, faced a shortage of a single-component drug.
Ksenia Shekhovtsova, deputy medical director of MEDSI, told RBC that there are currently no vaccines available, deliveries are made to state clinics as a priority. The clinic "ABC-medicine" also reported the absence of a one-component measles vaccine. In addition, Euromedclinic, Uniklinik, Medline Service and Centraviamed reported the absence of a monovaccine. RBC notes that now the drug is available in Medscan and Invitro. Svetlana Kanevskaya, medical director of Medscan, clarified that both adults and children apply to the clinic, some are sent for vaccination by employers.
Medscan separately noted that there is a high demand for combined measles vaccines: demand in the clinic for the drug in 2023 increased by 66%.
In January-March 2023, auctions were held for the purchase of measles vaccine for 3.17 million rubles, the total amount of tenders announced for this period amounted to 9.35 million rubles, writes RBC. Among the winners of the auctions are Sibmedinfo, Medpharma and Epidbiomed-Impex, as well as Allergen Trading House.
The chief freelance epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health, Roman Polibin, told the publication that children and adults under the age of 35 who have not had measles, have not been vaccinated against it, or have been vaccinated once, are the first to “clean up” immunization against measles. Also, people who do not have information about vaccinations are subject to it, including people leading a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle, internally displaced persons and migrants. Vaccination of children against measles is carried out according to the National Immunization Schedule (NCV) at 12 months and six years.
On April 20, almost 200 confirmed cases of measles were registered in Dagestan, all of them were not vaccinated. Then the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, ruled out the need to introduce systemic restrictions. Rospotrebnadzor links the increase in the incidence with a large number of unvaccinated people, as well as the flow of migrants from neighboring countries. In three regions of the Russian Federation, people who fell ill with measles were given a different diagnosis, and as a result, they managed to infect many.