Preventable deaths are on the rise in the European Union amid low vaccine uptake, putting young children most at risk, Europe’s disease agency has warned.

Officials from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) revealed new data Monday confirming an upward trend in measles and pertussis — or whooping cough — cases last year.

At least five people in EU countries died of measles between March 2023 and the end of February 2024, all in Romania, while data showed a more than 10-fold increase in whooping cough cases in the EU in 2023 and 2024 compared to the previous two years.

“It is disheartening to see that despite decades of a well-documented safety and effectiveness track record of vaccines, countries in the EU/EEA and globally still face outbreaks of several vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Andrea Ammon, ECDC director.

  • RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    I understand how “Big pharma” type conspiracy theories might appear in the USA, but how the hell can someone believe them in EU where the pharmaceutical and health industries are heavily regulated and vaccines are almost exclusively provided by the state? I just can’t wrap my head around this.

    • CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      28
      ·
      2 months ago

      The antivax movement literally started in the UK, the US just got infected by it, no pun intended. Look into Andrew Wakefield.

      • vividspecter@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        2 months ago

        Even before they left the EU I always considered the UK as different from mainland Europe. And stuff like this is a big part of it, along with culturally being more similar to North America and Australia.

      • RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 months ago

        No, I know that, but the original vaccination hesitancy in UK and Ireland made sense because Wakefield published a study in a reputable peer reviewed medical journal. Since then it has taken a life of its own in US even after the original claim was refuted. Political entities got involved and so on and so forth.

    • aleph@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      exclusively provided by the state

      Conspiracy theories are fueled primarily by distrust in social institutions, so they can continue to spread just as effectively whether it’s a faceless, profit-driven industry or a national government that is perceived to be in control.

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      It’s almost as if the people’s trust in the regulators has been destroyed due to blatant corporate capture.

  • ugjka@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    2 months ago

    I recently got the diphtheria and tetanus vax booster which you need every 10 years, i think i was 2 years late on this one because like most people after high school i had forgotten or simply do not care. Took some digging to find my childhood vax passport. This only came to my mind after i had done my 3rd covid booster

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 months ago

    It’s not just in the EU. The US is way worse with Anti-Vaxxing.

    I’m actually torn between the idea that kids die because their parents are terminally stupid, and the fact that terminally stupid people rising less kids to adulthood improves humanity.