Skopje, 6 March 2024 (MIA) – In a press release Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said it would accept the recommendations of the Commission for Infectious Diseases aimed at curbing the spread of whooping cough (pertussis) in the country.

The Health Ministry said that Minister Ilir Demiri is set to adopt a decision with which he will ordain the State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate to act in line with the legal competencies stipulated by the Law on Protection of the Population against Infectious Diseases, and carry out special audits of vaccination sites to look into vaccination documentation.

“The Ministry of Health urges parents to vaccinate their children since vaccination is the best way to prevent whooping cough,” said the press release.

Children who have not been vaccinated against pertussis with the DTaP vaccine will be banned from day care centers only if the recommendation issued by the Infectious Diseases Commission to contain the whooping cough epidemic on Skopje is adopted by the Ministry of Health and if it instructs health inspectors to carry out special audits, according to State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate director Renata Mladenovska at a press conference Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday the head of the State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate, Renata Mladenovska, said children who have not been vaccinated against pertussis with the DTaP vaccine will be banned from day care centers only if the recommendation issued by the Infectious Diseases Commission to contain the whooping cough epidemic on Skopje is adopted by the Ministry of Health and if it instructs health inspectors to carry out special audits.

The Commission for Infectious Diseases convened Tuesday after which it recommended that the State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate ramp up its inspections in order to determine the real situation in kindergartens regarding the vaccination status of the children; for testing to be made available nationwide by the public health centers; and for a digital record to be kept of the vaccination status of children at the vaccination sites.

The Commission also recommended that adults get vaccinated as well. According to the Committee on Immunization the first vaccines intended for adults are expected to arrive on March 15.

The vaccination against whooping cough in North Macedonia is carried out with combined vaccines: Hexaxim (DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB), Pentaxim (DTaP-IPV-Hib) and Tetraxim (DTaP-IPV). Children receive the first dose at two months, the second dose at four months and the third dose when they’re six months old. The first revaccination is done a year after the completion of the primary vaccination, when the child is 18 months old, and the second revaccination happens when the child is 7 years old.

Photo: MIA Archive