After the recent reports on the surging number of registered measles cases, particularly in hospitals across Istanbul, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has dismissed allegations of a possible epidemic stating the situation is under control.
During the news conference following the Cabinet meeting, Koca said: “There is no epidemic situation; it is under control. We are administering the necessary treatments for all detected cases. In addition, filiation studies are carried out extremely strictly.”
The minister attributed the rise in measles cases to immigration, noting that similar trends have been observed in other countries. He noted that regional cases had been registered in Türkiye, mainly concentrated in Istanbul.
“About 86% of recorded cases are in Istanbul. But as I said, they are under control. We follow up on the situation with our mobile health teams,” he said.
The rise in measles cases was reported earlier in June after health professionals pointed to the increasing figures of the disease registered in the past six months in Istanbul’s Cerrahpaşa Hospital. However, the Health Ministry referred to the cases as isolated, noting one of the cases which concluded in alleged measles-related death was found to be, in fact, due to multi-organ failure caused by HIV/AIDS.
The minister also urged citizens with children who have received incomplete doses of vaccines and those whose child has not been vaccinated to apply the required doses quickly.
“We recommend three doses of vaccine in this period. The first two doses should be given at the age of 9 months and 12 months, and the third dose at the age of 4 years. We continue the implement vaccination widely, starting with our family physicians and our mobile teams,” he said.
Regarding the question of domestic vaccine production, the minister noted that the construction of the public health center is currently underway.
“The first stage is finished; the second stage is ongoing. Once it’s completed, 86% of all the vaccines we use today will be domestically produced. We are at the time localizing hepatitis A, chickenpox and rabies vaccines with technology transfer. We have reached an important stage; it is closely approaching the end,” Koca said.
Pointing out the expected localization in vaccine production once when “hygiene center” get completed, Koca noted that years after, Türkiye has proven it can produce the vaccines together with Turkovac, adding that continuation of this will come by producing the vaccines in the immunization program.
