Measles vaccine uptake and COVID-19

Dear Editor, we would like to share ideas on “Measles vaccine uptake among Italian medical students compared to the pre-COVID-19 era.¹ ” The purpose of this study was to compare measles vaccination uptake among medical students at a big teaching hospital to pre-pandemic levels. The vaccination uptake among unprotected medical students was 59.5%, which was not statistically different from the pre-COVID-19 period, according to the retrospective observational analysis. However, as a result of a recent mandated vaccination program, the number of serologically immune people has increased. The study emphasizes the importance of raising awareness and developing measures to attain comprehensive measles vaccine coverage among healthcare personnel.

This study sheds data on measles vaccine uptake among medical students, underlining the ongoing issue of low immunization rates among young adults entering the medical field. The increase in serologically immune people as a result of a mandated vaccination policy demonstrates the usefulness of such policies in increasing immunization rates. However, medical students’ low compliance with free workplace immunization offers shows the possibility of vaccine reluctance or other hurdles. The study’s retrospective approach, which relies on data acquired during occupational health surveillance, is one possible limitation. This may impose constraints on data accuracy, completeness, and potential biases. Furthermore, the study only included medical students from one teaching hospital, limiting the findings’ applicability to other healthcare settings or areas. Further study with bigger and more diverse samples would be beneficial in validating and expanding on these findings. In fact, the decision to uptake the vaccine, especially for COVID-19 vaccine, is proven to be associated with changing situation of the pandemic.²

Authors’ contributions

AK 50% ideas, writing, analyzing, approval. HD 50% ideas, supervision, approval.