St. Petersburg clinics lack measles vaccines

In St. Petersburg clinics, willing citizens cannot be vaccinated against measles due to a shortage of vaccine, said the head of the department for monitoring immunization of the population of St. Petersburg at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. Botkina Irina Chkhingeria. According to her, the city did not receive the necessary drugs in sufficient quantities, RBC reports.

“In 2023, vaccines were not delivered to St. Petersburg in full according to the concluded contracts. But they will be fulfilled,” Chkhingeria said. She noted that the first delivery of the complex vaccine “Vactrevir” was in February of this year and amounted to only 12% of the application. At the same time, the city’s clinics had a supply of vaccine, due to which the pace of vaccination decreased significantly only from September. “Due to the increase in incidence this year, the costs of the single measles vaccine have increased. The volumes of purchases were calculated for the adult population, and due to the lack of children’s supplies, children also had to be vaccinated,” said Irina Chkhingeria.

According to Chkhingeria, delivery of the vaccine is expected before the end of the year. Now in city clinics, vaccinations are given only to those who do not have antibodies to measles. Patients undergo a blood test before vaccination.

The press service of the city health committee told the agency that Smolny has sent an application to the Ministry of Health and is awaiting delivery of the vaccine. The department, however, was unable to estimate the city’s need for the vaccine in numbers. “The need for items cannot be assessed, since parents, even with a sufficient number of vaccines, often postpone vaccination of their child for various reasons,” the committee’s press service said.