Fall in child vaccines in Estonia halted, though rates still below WHO benchmark
A fall in child vaccination coverage in Estonia has stopped, though it still remains below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended level of 95 percent, the Estonian Health Board (Terviseamet) said, referring to 2024 figures.
"The decline in child vaccination coverage stopped last year, and depending on the vaccine, the vaccination level has even grown by a percentage point or two," said Keiti Aren, the board's infectious diseases department chief specialist.
"While coverage levels are different across regions of Estonia, we can state that last year more children in the target group were vaccinated on time compared with the previous year, and, according to doctors, there were also those who caught up on required vaccinations afterwards," she said. However, "we are still far from the recommended level, and the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases remains," Aren went on.
Health Insurance Fund vaccination service manager Hanna Jäe said while awareness of the necessity of vaccines has grown, more needs to be done.
"Among parents, awareness and understanding have grown that dangerous infectious diseases have not gone anywhere, but are again reemerging both here and in nearby countries," Jäe said. "We are working to expand vaccination opportunities so that evidence-based prevention is easily accessible to everyone," she added.
Family doctors have, over the summer, been offering young people the opportunity to be vaccinated against Human papillomavirus (HPV) at clinics, and from autumn, the HPV vaccine will again be available in schools. Key booster vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis are also given in schools.
Jäe also praised those family doctor teams and school nurses who have helped explain the necessity of vaccination to parents, but also warned that vaccination consent forms, often given to pupils to pass on to their parents, need to make it to their destination.
"I would ask parents to stay in contact with their child's school nurse and ensure that the necessary consent form definitely makes its way back to the school nurse. In this way, you can be sure that your child is protected against dangerous infectious diseases," Jäe continued.
Parents should, before the start of school, review the state of their children's vaccinations together with the family doctor and ensure that the consent forms for vaccination at school reach the school nurse, the board says.
As of the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, 78.3 percent of all 8-year-olds had been vaccinated, compared with 77.0 percent a year earlier, and coverage has also slightly increased for booster vaccinations given during the school year.
In 2023, 72.8 percent of all 14-year-olds had been vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella, while in 2024 the figure was 74.2 percent.
72.5 percent of all 16-year-olds got vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough (pertussis) in 2023, compared with 74.4 percent in 2024.
HPV vaccination rates have also been increasing. As of now, 53.3 percent of all 14-year-olds have been vaccinated against HPV. The jab has been offered free of charge to all young people aged 12–18 since 2024.
WHO data shows 131 countries out of the 195 examined have consistently reached at least 90 percent of children with the first dose of DTP (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) vaccine since 2019. WHO uses the coverage of the third dose of DTP as a global benchmark for child vaccine rates.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
