MMR vaccine controversy

Education Minister Aeber Ademi said on Tuesday that at least 200 children are not being allowed to attend school because they are not vaccinated, but added that these are only the preliminary numbers that the ministry gathered from education inspectorates across the country, and that the real figure might be higher.

The Faculty of Medicine in the Croatian city of Split expressed concern on Thursday over the expected arrival of British anti-vaccination campaigner Andrew Wakefield, describing his work as highly questionable.

A major new study confirms that there is no link between vaccination and autism, AFP writes.

For 10 years, data were collected for 650,000 Danish children born between 1999 and 2010. The observed vaccine was against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). The percentage of autistic patients was the same in the vaccinated and unvaccinated ones.

Following the wave of measles in Europe, two cases have already been confirmed in Bulgaria. One is for a 3-year-old child and the other is a 37-year-old woman. The disease has reached epidemic values ​​in neighboring countries, and there are casualties.

Bulgaria, Latvia and France are the most vaccine-sceptic countries in the European Union, a survey suggests, reports EuroNews. 

Fewer than 70% of respondents in all three countries consider innoculations safe, according to the Brussels-commissioned poll.

Only two out of three Bulgarians agree that vaccines are safe and 72.7 per cent believe they are effective - among the lowest level of trust among European Union nationals, according to a report published by the European Commission on Wednesday to mark World Polio Day.

Cases of measles in Europe have hit a record high, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than 41,000 people have been infected in the first six months of 2018, leading to 37 deaths.

Last year there were 23,927 cases and the year before 5,273. Experts blame this surge in infections on a drop in the number of people being vaccinated.

A measles epidemic that started in May shows no sign of abating after the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (KEELPNO) reported 267 new cases from November 30 to December 21, 91 of which were recorded in the past week alone.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar confirmed on Wednesday that an unvaccinated man from Belgrade had died from measles, which has spread across Serbia since an outbreak was first reported in November.

"This problem can't be solved until we are all vaccinated," Loncar told the press, calling on parents to protect their children's health.

The Institute of Public Health of Serbia on Wednesday reported an epidemic of measles in the city of Belgrade.

This came after tests confirmed the presence of the virus in five patients.