Consequences of delayed measles vaccination in Germany.

BACKGROUND: In recent surveillance data there are still many cases of measles and even local epidemics in Germany. We studied whether delayed measles vaccination contributes to this situation. METHODS: Vaccine coverage data in children for completion of measles vaccination at Month 15- only 22% of German children had received their first vaccine dose. This percentage increased to 77% at the age of 24 months and to 87% at 36 months of age. According to all three surveillance instruments- the number of measles cases was highest in children age 1 to 4 years with a peak in the second year of life. CONCLUSIONS: More than 50% of measles cases in 1-year-old children would be prevented if presently observed vaccine coverage rates in the third year of life could be achieved 12 months