The Costa Rica Public Health and Social Security Administration (C.C.S.S) is requesting parents to confirm that their children have the measles vaccinations up to date as established in the immunization schedule of the institution; this because of an outbreak of the virus in Europe which was caused due to the low coverage of the vaccination program.

The measles vaccine should be applied at 15 months of age, and at age 6 the child should receive a booster. This is part of the basic immunization program established by the CCSS which also includes rubella and mumps.

“It is of high importance that if a child has not been protected he is taken to the closest health care facility to receive the vaccine”, said María del Rocío Sáenz president of the CCSS.

All children can receive the vaccination for free even without having insurance, they just need to go to the closes EBAIS health care facility.

According to data provided by the Social Security Administration, between 2015 and the first semester of 2017 there was a total investment of $912,000.00 in acquiring 345 thousand doses of the vaccine as a mechanism to prevent measles. Another 60 thousand doses will be purchased in the second semester of the ongoing year.

The importance of vaccinating resides in the fact that there is no specific treatment for measles, a highly contagious infection that is caused by a virus and that consists in a rash that generally starts on the face and quickly spreads to the rest of the body, other symptoms include high fever, runny nose, cough and inflamed eyes.

Measles vaccine has proven effective in preventing the disease resulting in a 75% decrease in deaths from the virus between 2000 and 2013.