Less than four months before the Paris Games, Public Health France is calling for people to be vaccinated against measles, a disease that is on the rise.
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A few months before the Olympic Games which will take place in France, Public Health France is calling for vaccination against measles, a preventable disease but which has experienced a resurgence in France in 2023 with 117 cases, including 31 imported, eight times more than in 2022.
“It is absolutely fundamental to have vaccination coverage” before the Paris Olympic Games begin, warns Professor Robert Cohen, pediatrician-infectious disease specialist at the Créteil Intercommunal Hospital and President of the National Professional Pediatric Council. “If someone arrives with measles, they will contaminate dozens of people and very quickly, so the Olympic Games and major events which lead to a large mixing of populations increase the epidemic risk, indisputably”explains the doctor for whom it is necessary for all participating countries to launch vaccination campaigns.
Especially since “France is not the only country” affected by an increase in cases: “England had many more cases a few weeks or months ago. Morocco and Germany, the same. We are in a period of resurgence of measles and it is very, very important that children and adults are properly immunized against this disease”, warns the doctor.
