Social Media, Doctors to Blame for Serbia’s Low Vaccination Rate

Vaccine(Photo:AP)

The fact that over the course of nine months last year only 58.4 percent of children received their scheduled MMR shot is devastating and the blame for this situation rests not only with social media but doctors as well, infectious disease specialist Dragan Delic said on Jan 5.

“We are paying the price for doctors taking a defensive stance. They aren’t taking the time to educate people and if doctors don’t educate them, they’ll educate themselves – through word of mouth or via social media, which are rife with scientifically unfounded, unchecked and dangerous information,” Delic told the Vecernje Novosti daily.

Doctors who do not specialize in immunology “yet allow themselves to comment on the alleged danger of vaccines” pose an additional problem, Delic added, insisting that claims that autism can be a negative side effect of vaccination have been disproved.

“This has been scientifically proven yet unfounded rumors continue to spread,” Delic said.

According to records kept by the Dr. Milan Jovanovic Batut State Institute for Public Health, a total of 74.8 percent of children received their mandatory shots in 2021. Last year, over the course of nine months barely half of the children in Serbia were regularly vaccinated. The number was especially low in Novi Sad, where less than a quarter of youngsters got their mandatory MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.